Bak kwa

Bak kwa or long yoke is a grilled meat delicacy eaten around and during Lunar New Year and is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore. It’s sold by weight and is pricey because of the amount of meat used and how labour intensive it is to make. Growing up, we only had it during Lunar New Year because of this.

There are two types available, one with a chewier texture due to the meat itself being sliced so you would still have the grain of the meat still present. This would have been more akin to biltong. The other being made from minced pork that was rolled out into a sheet so had a softer and more pliable texture. Both types have a smoky, savoury and sweet flavour and are dangerously addictive. Back in my hometown, there used to be a vendor in an open air food court selling freshly made slices of bak kwa grilled over a charcoal fire, the grill being a similar set-up to the satay vendor’s. That charry, smoky aroma filled the air, drawing in customers who would make advance orders for New Year.

My grandpa used to love eating this and would have a good supply of the shop bought versions for the seasonal celebrations. I would look forward to indulging in this and other snacks my grandma made such as mini spring rolls filled with chicken floss or dried prawns, roasted cashew nuts and pineapple tarts. She would store them in old giant Horlicks glass bottles and I’d dig my hand in there to get a good fistful to snack on.

This recipe is a modified version from Malaysian Chinese Kitchen, a valuable resource for me for authentic recipes from home.

Bak kwa

Makes 18 small slices

900g 15% to 20% fat minced pork
1 tbsp Shao Hsing wine
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp five spice powder
145g caster sugar

Honey wash
2 tbsp honey dissolved in 3 tbsp hot water

1. Mix all the ingredients with the minced pork in a large mixing bowl. Use the handle of a spatula to continue stirring until the meat has a sticky texture. Cover the bowl and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 120°C or 100°C fan.
3. Divide the marinated meat into 3 large portions. Place one portion on a piece of baking parchment roughly the same size as your baking sheet/tray. I put the meat and baking parchment on a large chopping board; you could just place it on the kitchen counter instead. Cover with a large piece of cling film and gently press and roll out the meat with a rolling pin to about 2mm thickness. Then peel off the cling film, leaving it to one side to reuse on further portions. Use a palette knife to even out any bumpy areas and to ensure uniform thickness. Repeat for the remaining portions. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and cut the cooked sheet of meat into 6 pieces. Brush one side with the honey wash.

5. Change the oven setting to grill mode at 220°C (no fan setting).
6. Grill the pieces of meat over a wire rack for 5 minutes. Then turn over, brush with more honey wash and grill for another 5 minutes. You want some char around the edges, but keep a close eye on this as you don’t want the meat to burn. Repeat until all the pieces of meat are cooked.
7. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container. In a cool room, it will keep for a week. Or keep it in the fridge where it will keep for 2 weeks or slightly more. To heat up, microwave at full power for 10 to 20 seconds.

Sar hor fun (stir-fried rice noodles with gravy)

Hot summer days call for quick, easy recipes that don’t require slaving over the stove for hours. This is one of those low effort all-in-one dishes that produces a really satisfying meal. It’s a classic dish to order in a Chinese restaurant in Malaysia, one that I grew up with and took for granted. I never really learned to make it because it was so readily available but the longer I’ve been away, the more I’m trying to recreate food memories to soothe my little heart missing home. When I cook this I’m transported right back to the open air Chinese restaurants we used to have dinners at. The sounds of a metal spatula furiously stirring and tapping the sides of a giant wok filled with noodles, over a huge fire with a pleasant charry smell filling the air is pure nostalgia for me.

This recipe is so good I’ve made it three times already in the last few months. It’s a complete success with G as he loves noodle dishes and can’t get enough of them every time we visit.

Any sort of robust green vegetable can be used. I normally use choi sum, but didn’t have any on hand so resorted to spring greens instead. Pak choi or kale would work too. Remember to prep more than what you need as the vegetables shrink when cooked. For the meat, again pretty much anything goes but I normally use a combination of prawns and chicken. Pork slices, squid rings and fish cake slices are also good. I seem to recall it being served with pig’s liver too, but I personally give that a miss.

Sar hor fun

Serves 2 large portions

400g fresh flat rice noodles
1 large chicken thigh, sliced into 1 inch pieces
10 raw king prawns
2 large handfuls of choi sum/kale/spring greens/pak choi
4 tbsp vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely

For the rice noodles
2 tsp light soy sauce
3 tsp dark soy sauce

Gravy
600ml chicken stock
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
Generous dash of ground white pepper

3 tsp cornflour
4 tbsp cold water

2 eggs, beaten

1. Prep the rice noodles to make them easier to fry. Separate the noodles out as much as possible and microwave on high heat for 1 minute.
2. Heat up 3 tbsp oil in a wok over high heat. Add the rice noodles to the wok with the light and dark soy sauces, and stir-fry until softened and charred brown in some places. Try not to mush the noodles up too much with your spatula, instead toss the noodles using the wok itself. Then really try and scrape off any charred bits from the bottom of the wok to add to the dish as that will add lots of flavour. Place aside in two serving bowls or pasta dishes.
3. Turn the heat down to medium high and add 1 tbsp of oil to the wok. Stir-fry the chicken pieces until cooked, then add to the rice noodles.
4. Fry the chopped garlic in the residual oil for a couple of minutes until fragrant, then add all the ingredients for the gravy and bring to a simmer. If using stalks from kale and springs greens, add those in to cook for a couple of minutes first, before adding in the prawns and veg leaves to cook for another couple of minutes.
5. Mix the cornflour with water to make a slurry, then add it into the stock to thicken into a gravy.
6. Pour in the eggs and stir gently to create strands in the gravy, then pour over the two bowls of noodles.

Smashed cucumber salad and a summer BBQ

This recipe has been making the rounds on the internet and newspaper food sections the last few years. With the amazing weather we’ve had this recent Bank Holiday weekend (complete turnaround to early May’s long weekend!), we decided to have a barbecue one evening.

I wanted to try something different to the usual burgers, sausages etc. so decided to grill some mackerel with fresh chilli sauce and have this salad on the side. I wanted some mackerel fillets, but they’d run out in the shop and as luck would have it they had much more amazing whole mackerel, cleaned and gutted and ready to go. G didn’t display much interest towards my alternative barbecue idea (he was more geared towards the aforementioned burgers and sausages) so I only bought one fish. I made a couple of diagonal cuts on both sides of the fish, cooked it on the barbecue a few minutes on each side and had it with this chilli sauce. Of course I shared some with the husband. Lo and behold, it was declared the highlight of the meal and it was suggested that I should have bought two mackerel instead of one.

Anyway, back to the cucumber salad. Eat it straight after dressing it, but it’s even better if you can leave it marinating in the fridge for an hour or two beforehand. The cold crunchiness makes a refreshing counterpart to the rich and smoky mackerel main, or any meats really. It might look innocuous but it’s packed full of flavour and complexity.

Smashed cucumber salad

Serves 4 as a large salad

2 cucumbers
1 tsp salt

Dressing
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp chilli oil
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
2 garlic cloves, grated

1 handful coriander, roughly chopped
1 tbsp sesame seeds

1. Remove the ends of the cucumbers. Peel off alternate strips of cucumber skin so you end up with a striped pattern along the length of the cucumber.
2. Smash the cucumbers with a cleaver, or a rolling pin. Slice cucumbers lengthways into four strips, then turn them horizontally and slice 1cm thick diagonal pieces.
3. Place the cucumber slices into a large bowl and mix in the salt. Set aside for 10 minutes, then drain off the liquid at the bottom. This removes some water from the cucumber and makes them crunchier.
4. Mix the dressing in a small bowl and zap in the microwave for 10 seconds to allow the sugar to dissolve and garlic to flavour the dressing better.
5. Toss the cucumber in the dressing, add in chopped coriander and sesame seeds. Serve immediately or make in advance and leave to marinate in the fridge for an hour or two.

Prawns and spinach in spicy coconut sauce (udang dan bayam masak lemak)

I made my first tentative foray into town yesterday, with a long-awaited trip to the hairdresser’s. And since I was there anyway, I dropped in to my favourite bakery Tough Mary’s Bakehouse for some lovely sourdough (the best), croissants (the best), a new strawberry and custard danish as well as a rhubarb galette.

Across the road from the bakery is Affordable, a community-based shop dealing in surplus foods and goods. The last time I went I came away with, amongst other things, Taylors of Harrogate’s China rose petal leaf tea which I now adore. This time, there was an enticing display of Fentiman’s rose lemonade in the window and I couldn’t resist popping in. The shop now has a little corner of fresh fruit and vegetables added to their repertoire of stock. The guy at the counter said they have fresh veg and fruit pretty much everyday now. Imagine my delight when I saw a box full of fresh whole spinach, in bundles of 20p each. None of these leaf-only salad business. I was so excited I snapped up two bundles, and came home with an idea to make this dish already, having seen it on a Facebook group page a few days ago.

Masak lemak (cooking with spiced coconut milk) is a traditional Nyonya dish with characteristic umami hits from fermented shrimp paste and dried prawns, much like how the Italians use anchovies in their cooking. And like anchovies, the strong initial fishiness translates to a salty undertone lending a distinct savouriness to the dish. If nothing else, it is a surefire way to get the kids eating lots of veg.

The original recipe uses sweet potatoes which works well balancing the savouriness of the dish but I used potatoes instead as I didn’t think G would like sweet potatoes. Alternatively, use pumpkin for that bit of sweetness. If you can’t get whole spinach, use large mature spinach leaves, just not baby spinach as it would get too mushy. The vegetable can be substituted with sweet potato leaves or morning glory/water spinach/water convolvulus or even kale. It’s such a versatile dish.

Prawns and spinach in spicy coconut sauce (Udang dan bayam masak lemak)

Serves 4 as a side dish

Spice paste
3 fresh red chillies (deseeded if you like it milder)
2 banana shallots or 6 small shallots
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp belacan (fermented shrimp paste)
1 small handful dried prawns
2 inches fresh turmeric or 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder

200ml coconut milk
8 new potatoes, halved
150g raw king prawns
200g whole spinach, cut into 2 inch lengths
2 tbsp fish sauce

1. Soak the dried prawns in hot water for 15 minutes to soften. Drain, and blend all the ingredients for the spice paste in a food processor until you reach a fine paste consistency.
2. Heat up 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a wok over medium high heat. Fry the spice paste for 5-10 minutes until fragrant. Add in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add in the new potatoes and reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes until they’re soft. Add some water if you like to thin it down.
3. Add in the prawns, and a minute later add the spinach stalks, followed by the leaves another minute later.
4. Simmer uncovered until the prawns and veg are cooked through. Add fish sauce to season, taste and adjust to add more if needed.
   

Braised peanuts

I made these peanuts because I wanted to have them as one of the side dishes to go along with my congee. After a brief spell of unusually warm spring days, we’re back to rather chilly mornings and evenings and so I was craving a comforting bowl of congee with all the accompaniments. I still had 5 each of salted eggs and century eggs out of their 6-packs and some cured Chinese sausages to use too. All these really strong flavours work well with the bland but creamy congee and remind me so much of home. Increasingly, the call of being home in Malaysia is getting stronger despite not being able to visit so anything to replicate being at home is most welcome.

I grew up thinking these were such a treat as they would only be served in Chinese restaurants before a big meal, usually a banquet, or Chinese New Year reunion dinner. But they would come in the tiniest serving dish to be shared out amongst the entire table. Obviously one can’t look too greedy so I’d only take a few peanuts before passing them on but I could have quite easily finished them off myself.

So this is what I had with my congee, all the flavours that remind me of home. Clockwise from top right are the century eggs and salted eggs, stir-fried Chinese cabbage, braised peanuts and fried Chinese sausage. The century eggs are definitely an acquired taste but all Malaysians grow up eating them and I love their funky chewiness. They go really well with pickled ginger.

This recipe comes from The Informal Chef’s site and not only did I like the recipe, I liked the photography too and most decidedly riffed off that for my presentation. The original recipe used a slow cooker, and some use a pressure cooker but I went with a pan on a stove for ease.

Braised Peanuts

200g peanuts (skin off or on is fine), soaked overnight
4 slices of ginger
3 cloves garlic, skin off
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
5 cloves
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1/2 tsp salt

1. Rinse the peanuts and drain the water off.
2. Add the peanuts and all the other ingredients into a saucepan and top with enough water to cover the nuts.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the peanuts are soft. Top up regularly with water to keep the peanuts covered throughout.

Chicken satay with peanut sauce

I went all out earlier this month and made Malaysian food for all our meals one weekend. It started off Friday night with tau eu bak (pork belly stew), Saturday lunch with prawn sambal, Saturday night with leftover tau eu back, Sunday lunch with chicken satay and peanut sauce and Sunday dinner with siew yoke (roast pork belly) with chilli sauce, ginger sauce and chicken rice. I was pretty proud with what I achieved in the kitchen that weekend.

I realised I haven’t written about the pork belly stew before although I’ve made it umpteen times. It’s a regular recurring dish in our household as it’s one of G’s favourite things that I cook for him. So someday soon there will be a post on that. It’s not the most appealing looking dish, but that warm stew and the fall-apart-in-your-mouth pork is really easy to make and delicious all year round, but especially so in this cold weather season.

But first, this chicken satay, another great recipe from Ping Coombes’ Malaysia cookbook. When I first bit into it, I was amazed by how tender and how flavourful that chicken was. Marinating it in the fridge overnight really helped developed that soft juicy meat and the flavour. The peanut sauce as well tasted completely authentic to what is sold back home in the satay stalls, and not like in those recipes that use peanut butter instead of actual peanuts.

In Malaysia, we used to get satay to takeaway from stalls, or have it to eat as one of other dishes in a food court. To takeaway you’d patiently wait for your order and watch the theatre of the satay being prepared, trying to dodge the smoke coming from the charcoal grill as the wind changed direction towards you. The charcoal grill would be blackened from years of use, no doubt adding to the flavour of the satay. The very skilled satay man (it was usually a man) would deftly fan the flames with a handheld rattan fan, turning over the sticks of satay a handful at a time, and basting it with a lemongrass baster dipped in oil before deeming it done when there was the right amount of char on the meat. The smell of that freshly grilled meat was intoxicating. Then they’d wrap up the number of sticks you ordered, together with chunks of ketupat (pressed rice cakes), raw onion wedges and cucumber slices, with peanut sauce. Inevitably you’d ask nicely for extra peanut sauce, to which they very kindly obliged.

Definitely marinate the chicken overnight if you have time. Very definitely make the peanut sauce from scratch. I made only half the original amount in the book (recipe below is the halved amount) and still had leftover sauce. I froze the extra and am planning to use it in a gado-gado recipe from the same book at some point. I cooked half the satay on a griddle pan, and another half under the grill in the oven as an experiment. I have to say, the ones in the pan stayed far juicier, and the wooden sticks fared better at the end as well. So I would definitely griddle in a pan when I make them again the future.

Chicken satay

Makes 10-15 skewers

300g boneless chicken thighs, skin on, cut into 2cm wide strips

Marinade
3 lemongrass stalks (white base only)
2 tbsp coconut milk
1 tbsp turmeric
1/4 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp vegetable oil

1. Soak 10-15 bamboo skewers in water overnight to prevent burning during cooking.
2. Blitz the lemongrass in a food processor until finely chopped.
3. Add the lemongrass together with all the other marinade ingredients.
4. Place the chicken thigh strips in the marinade, stir to coat and leave in fridge overnight (or for at least 4 hours).
5. Thread the chicken strips in a zigzag manner onto the skewers.
6. Heat a griddle pan over medium high heat.
7. Cook the chicken for 6 to 8 minutes until they are cooked and have a slight char on both sides. Turn the skewers a few times on either side so they cook evenly.
8. Serve with peanut sauce (below).

Peanut sauce

Serves 3-4

150g blanched peanuts
6g dried red chillies
1/4 onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove
10g ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2 lemongrass stalks (white base only), roughly chopped (keep top halves aside)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/2 tbsp tamarind concentrate
1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
3/4 tsp salt
200ml water
1 tbsp dark sweet soy sauce (kicap manis)
60ml coconut milk

1. Roast the peanuts for 15 to 20 minutes in an oven at 180 degrees Celsius fan until lightly toasted. Place in a food processor and blitz until coarsely chopped.
2. Boil some water in a saucepan. Add the dried chillies and boil for 5 minutes, then remove from heat. Let the chillies soak in the water for at least 15 minutes to soften.
3. Drain the water off, split the chillies lengthways and deseed them. Chop up roughly.
4. Add the chillies into a food processor with the onion, garlic, ginger and lemongrass bases. Blitz to get a smooth paste, adding some vegetable oil to help loosen it while blending if needed.
5. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan over medium heat. Stir-fry the paste for about 5 minutes, until fragrant.
6. Add the lemongrass tips, tamarind concentrate, sugar and salt. Cook for 5-8 minutes until it turns darker in colour. Be careful not to burn it as the sugar will caramelise.
7. Add the chopped peanuts, water, soy sauce and coconut milk.
8. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Add more water if it gets too thick.
9. Adjust the seasoning if needed – the sauce should be a good balance between spicy, sweet, sour and creamy.

Prawn sambal (sambal udang)

This is a jazzed up version of prawn sambal that I grew up with in Malaysia. Mum used to cook this with some sliced onions added in. I loved mixing up the sambal with plain boiled rice to soak up all the spicy goodness.

Commonly it’s cooked with petai (sator bean/stink bean) and I actually did see it in the Oriental supermarket when I went shopping this morning but since it’s a taste I never acquired, decided to use winged beans and green beans instead. The beans give a nice crunch and texture to the dish. In Malaysia you can buy nasi lemak (coconut rice) with prawn sambal and all the trimmings (crispy anchovies, peanuts and sliced cucumber) wrapped in a banana leaf from roadside stalls to eat for breakfast and lunch.

This recipe is one I modified from Ping Coombes’ Malaysia cookbook. The book makes me so painfully nostalgic and homesick that sometimes it’s hard to leaf through it. In a good way. When I do though, I always find something I want to cook straightaway. Her recipes are so representative of the typical food we ate in Malaysia, just everyday home food and hawker stall food we used to eat. Nothing fancy, but oh so delicious.

Dial down the spiciness with less chillies if you want, this recipe with the addition of the fresh chillies is really spicy. If you find you’ve gone a bit over on the spice level, you can temper it by adding a bit more sugar and/or tamarind paste/lime juice. Or remove seeds from the fresh chillies or from half the dried chillies after soaking.

Add in more tamarind concentrate too if you like it more tangy. The original recipe called for 6 tbsps, but I thought that might be a bit much. I did add lime juice at the end to give it a bit of freshness. I also omitted the 6 candlenuts and reduced lemongrass from 8 to 4 in the spice paste.

Prawn sambal

Serves 4

500g raw peeled tiger prawns
100g winged beans, sliced diagonally to 1cm pieces
100g green beans, sliced to 2 inch lengths
5 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp tamarind concentrate (use more if wishing)
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 lime, juiced
Salt to taste

Spice paste

4 lemongrass stalks, tender base only
24 dried red chillies, soaked to soften in hot water and drained
2 fresh red chillies
20 small, round shallots
1/2 tsp shrimp paste (belacan)
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Roughly chop the lemongrass, fresh red chillies and shallots to give them a bit of a head start in the blender. Then add all the ingredients for the spice paste in a blender and blitz until smooth. It will be a little hard going at first, but keep stirring the ingredients towards the centre of the blender between blitzes and you’ll get there.
2. Boil some water in a saucepan and blanch the green beans for 2 minutes. Then add the winged beans and blanch for a further 2 minutes. Drain off the hot water and run under cold water to stop the cooking process and keep the vibrant green colour.
3. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a wok over medium high heat. Add the paste and fry for 10 minutes, stirring constantly so the bottom doesn’t catch and burn. The water will evaporate and the paste will get drier and darker as you cook it.
4. Push the paste to one side of the wok. Add another 2 tbsp vegetable oil and stir-fry the prawns until they are mostly pink with only a little grey left. This will take about 3-4 minutes. Add in the vegetables and stir it in altogether for another 2 minutes. Add 3 tbsp water to loosen the sauce a little. Add more water if you like it saucier; I like a semi-dry version.
5. Add the tamarind concentrate, sugar, lime juice and salt to taste. Taste and adjust the flavourings until you get a nice balance of sweet and sour, spicy and salty all at once.
6. Serve with plenty of boiled white rice to soak up that lovely sauce.

Lo mai gai (Steamed glutinous rice with chicken)

Lo mai gai (literally translated from Cantonese to chicken gai with glutinous rice lo mai) brings back so many childhood memories for me, as I’m sure it does to many Malaysians out there. It’s commonly sold at small hawker stalls which also sell savoury and sweet steamed buns – the water vapour billows out of the steamer drawer when the vendor pulls it open to pack the buns you’ve selected. Dad would occasionally wake up a little earlier in the morning on school days to get takeaway buns or lo mai gai for breakfast, then we would need to hurry and wolf it down before leaving for school.

This dish is also commonly sold in places serving dim sum, as one of the myriad of dishes either ordered off a menu or pushed past your table on a trolley. Here it’s usually served wrapped and steamed in lotus leaves, which imparts an extra flavour to the rice. The really old school shops still serve dim sum via trolleys, shouting out the dishes available as they walk around the shop, stopping only if they get hailed. Mostly though, dim sum is ordered off a menu and served to you at the table.

I’ve used the recipe from Roti n Rice, a really good website with completely authentic recipes for Malaysian food. I didn’t really modify the recipe at all (I know, shocker) but would advise to stir the glutinous rice halfway through steaming it the first time, so the seasoning is evenly dispersed throughout. What I found without stirring was that the bottom half of the rice had been flavoured more as the seasoning had collected at the bottom of the bowl, so made the flavours a bit patchy throughout the rice.

I’d put off making this for some time as I just couldn’t find the right-sized stainless bowls that are normally used for it. As luck would have it, rummaging through G’s cooking paraphernalia brought out these babies so I was really chuffed with that. If you can’t find those, use ceramic individual rice or soup bowls. Anything heatproof that’s not too big should do it.

If you’re eating this on its own then 2 portions each for lunch should suffice. If eating with other dishes, then one portion will do. Glutinous rice fills you up more by weight compared to normal rice so portion suggestions are adequate although they look small.  

Lo mai gai (Steamed glutinous rice with chicken)

8 servings

225g boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into small chunks
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 inch ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 cured Chinese sausages (lap cheong)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and softened in hot water then sliced
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp corn starch mixed with 120ml cold water

Glutinous rice
500g glutinous rice, soaked in water for at least 4 hours or overnight
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp five spice powder
120ml water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1. For the chicken, combine Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce and ginger. Mix in well into the chicken and marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Soak Chinese sausages in hot water for 10 minutes, then remove and peel the skins off. Soaking makes it much easier to peel them off. Slice diagonally into 2mm slices.
   
   Glutinous rice
3. Start boiling water for the base of the steamer.
4. Drain the soaked glutinous rice. Combine the light and dark soy sauces, salt, pepper, five spice powder and water together and mix well into the rice.
5. Combine vegetable and sesame oils with the chopped garlic and microwave on high for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Mix this into the rice as well.
6. Place the rice into the steamer, cover it and steam for 30 minutes. Halfway through cooking time, stir the rice thoroughly to ensure the sauce is evenly distributed.
   
   Toppings
7. Heat a frying pan or wok over medium heat. Stir-fry the Chinese sausage in the dry pan for several minutes until browned and caramelised. Oil will be released from the sausage as it cooks. Remove the sausage from the pan and drain on a paper towel.
8. With the oil still in the pan, fry the chopped garlic for one minute, then add in the chicken and sliced mushrooms. Stir for 2 to 3 minutes, then add in the dark soy sauce and stir to mix well. Add the corn starch slurry and let it simmer for a further 2 minutes until it thickens.

Assembly

9.  Cook in one batch of 8 servings or 2 batches of 4 servings each.
10. Arrange a few pieces of fried sausage, shiitake mushroom and chicken at the base of each bowl. Top with the partially cooked glutinous rice. Spoon some sauce from the chicken mixture over each bowl.
10. Place into the steamer, cover and steam for another 30 minutes.
11. To eat, invert the rice bowl onto a plate and eat whilst it’s hot. Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated in a steamer or microwave.