Cooking with Xianyitang dried ingredients
Glossy, tender sticky rice carries the mellow sweetness of dried longan, red dates and a few raisins. Steam it into a small dome and turn out to share as a warm dessert after a family meal.
Times, quantities and yields are adaptation estimates. Check the soaking, cooking and texture cues in the steps; passive waits are listed separately.
Recipe illustrations; measure ingredients using the written quantities.
Rinse the rice, cover with cold water about 3 cm above the grain, cover the bowl and refrigerate at 5°C or below for about 8–12 hours. The grains should absorb water fully and break readily under a fingernail. Continue soaking in the fridge if the centres are still hard. Do not leave it overnight in a warm room. Discard the soaking water and drain for about 10 minutes.
On the day of cooking, rinse the longan, dates and raisins. Split the dates, remove every stone and check for fragments, then weigh 40 g pitted dates. Soak the fruit in warm clean water for about 10–15 minutes until soft enough to cut; allow longer if needed, then drain. Roughly chop larger longan pieces and leave the dates halved or cut into strips, reserving some fruit to decorate the bowl. Heat a deep steamer with the rack above the water. Prepare a wide heatproof shallow dish for the rice and a heatproof bowl about 15 cm across, with a capacity of 700–900 ml.
Spread the drained rice evenly in the shallow dish, no more than about 2 cm deep, and add 60 ml water. Place on the rack once the steamer water is boiling, cover and steam steadily over a medium-high heat for about 35–45 minutes. Keep the water below the dish and do not let the pan boil dry. Grains from the middle should be soft with no opaque, hard core. If still firm, sprinkle about 15 ml hot water evenly over the rice, steam for another 5–10 minutes and check again, repeating if needed. Do not mould rice that is still hard.
Grease the inside of the round bowl thinly with 3 g butter. While the cooked rice is still hot, stir in the remaining 12 g butter and 20 g sugar until melted. Arrange some fruit on the base and sides of the bowl, then alternate layers of hot rice and the remaining fruit. Press gently to bring the rice together without crushing it to a paste. Finish with an even layer of rice about 1 cm below the rim. Proceed straight to the second steaming stage rather than leaving warm rice on the counter.
Top up the steamer with hot water around the edge if needed, keeping it below the rack. Set the bowl upright on the rack, cover and steam steadily for about 30–35 minutes, until steaming hot in the centre; allow longer if necessary. Lift out with oven gloves, set securely and rest for about 5 minutes. Loosen the edge gently with a thin spatula. Cover with a heatproof plate wider than the rim, hold the bowl and plate securely with oven gloves, then turn over together, taking care of escaping steam. Lift off the bowl and portion while warm.
Contains milk in the butter. Raisins may contain sulphites; check the brand used. Glutinous rice itself is not wheat, but check every ingredient before making any gluten-free claim. The Xianyitang dried-ingredient packs state that they are packed in a facility also handling peanuts, tree nuts, sesame and soya. Check the actual labels of every brand used.
Best served freshly steamed. Divide leftovers promptly into small portions in shallow containers and cool quickly, ideally refrigerating or freezing within 1 hour of cooking. Do not leave rice to cool slowly in the steamer or a large bowl. Keep refrigerated at 5°C or below and use within 24 hours. Reheat only once with a little water until steaming hot throughout; do not keep reheated leftovers again. Defrost frozen portions in the fridge, then reheat thoroughly once and eat straight away.
