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30-minute, one pot (rice cooker) meal. You only need 2 ingredients: rice and Chinese sausage (lap cheong). Let's get cooking ^_^
Lap Cheong (Chinese Sausage) Over Rice
This is one of my favorite pantry meals. And it really is a pantry meal because all you need is:
- Rice
- Chinese sausage (lap cheong)
So easy! Just put everything in the rice cooker and let the rice cooker do all the work. You may also add chopped green onions, but that is optional.
Lap cheong over rice is an easy meal we gravitate towards when we crave "home cooking" but don't actually want to cook heheheh.
It also happens to be super onolicious. The lup cheong pieces get all steamy and tender. The fat and flavor from the sausage seasons each grain of rice. So the rice is also super flavorful! It is a magical meal and incredibly satisfying.
Here's how to do it.
You have the rice cooker? Ok good!
Remove the interior rice pot. Put the uncooked rice in the pot. Rinse the rice a few times with water (until the water runs almost clear). Then fill the pot with water just up to the marked line.
Layer the lap cheong links on top of the rice. Close the lid and press the "cook" button (or whichever button you usually press to start cooking the rice). Cook it like you're just cooking a regular cup of rice.
Sit back and wait, about 30 minutes. It's really that easy ^_^
How to Serve (2 Methods)
Once the rice finishes cooking (our rice cooker makes a gentle beeping sound when it's ready, but I'm hoping to upgrade to the rice cooker that sings Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star when finished!), let it sit for 5-10 minutes before opening.
Method 1 (pictured above)
Open the rice cooker and lift out the lap cheong links (be careful, they will be hot, hot, hot). Place them on a cutting board and slice into nice thick pieces. Fluff up the rice and scoop that out into two bowls (I usually estimate ½ cup uncooked rice per person). Then top the bowls with the sliced lap cheong and a sprinkle of chopped green onions (optional). Eat and enjoy.
Method 2 (first photo featured at the top of this post)
Open the rice cooker and lift out the lap cheong links. Place them on a cutting board and slice into nice thick pieces. Fluff up the rice and slice the sliced lap cheong back into the rice cooker along with a handful of chopped green onions (optional). Mix gently. Then scoop our and divide between two bowls. Eat and enjoy.
Note: you don't even have to season this dish because the lap cheong has so much flavor on it's own! No salt or pepper needed, but if you wanted to get *fancy*, you can make a finishing sauce to drizzle on right before eating. More on that in the Tips sections below.
What Is Chinese Sausage (Lap Cheong)?
Lap cheong is a pork-based Chinese sausage. Lap cheong is crazy tasty! The pork marinated, then salted and smoked. It's different from Italian sausage, German sausage, etc because it is much sweeter. You know the sweetness of char siu? Yes, think that kind of meaty juicy sweetness.
Lap cheong goes by a few different names:
Lap cheong = Cantonese
Làcháng = Mandarin
Chinese Sausage = English
In Hawaii, we say lap cheong because most of the Chinese in Hawaii are Cantonese-speaking. What's neat is that even if you visit a local (non-Chinese) supermarket or drugstore like Longs Drugs and ask for lap cheong, everyone will know what you're looking for. And yes, even the drugstore in Hawaii sells lap cheong!
Lap cheong is typically sold dried, in packs of 8-10 long links. (You can also get fresh lap cheong, but dried lap cheong is more common.) Lap cheong keeps for about six months in the fridge once opened, so you don't have to rush to finish them quickly. I usually keep one package in the fridge and use as needed.
How to cook Chinese sausage? There are many different ways, but the rice cooker method is definitely the easiest (and might be my favorite Chinese sausage recipe)! Other preparation methods include:
- Chop the lap cheong into small pieces and use it to make Chinese sausage fried rice.
- Slice it thick, saute (don't forget to drain excess oil/fat), and eat it with plain jook (or my favorite century egg and pork congee / jook).
- You can even make lap cheong bao (steamed Chinese buns with a whole lap cheong link).
The wonderful world of lap cheong is endless.
You can buy packages of lap cheong at Chinese supermarkets and even at some Costco locations. (Make sure to check out Costco Hawaii when you visit.) You can also purchase lap cheong online.
Tips
What kind of rice to use?
At my parents house we typically default to Jasmine rice. At our house, we use Japanese short grain rice. Either works! Both are delicious options. When in Hawaii, make sure to visit The Rice Factory for your Japanese rice (full post here).
What kind of rice cooker to use?
Zojirushi is our favorite rice cooker brand and we have been using their rice cookers for as long as I can remember. We cook rice at least once a day (sometimes twice), so you could say our rice cooker is THE most important kitchen appliance in our home.
Our current rice cooker is an older model of this one. I've gone through at least five or six different models in my life including this basic one I had in my college dorm (it's pretty ideal if you want a rice cooker but 1) don't cook rice too often and 2) want one that takes up very little room).
P.S. Stay tuned if you like rice cooker recipes, many more are coming soon ^_^
Can I add other ingredients to this dish?
Yes! There are so many things you can do. Sometimes I add in sliced sh*take mushrooms or tofu. Feel free to experiment. Think of rice + lup cheong as the base, and then you can add in extras from there. Right before eating I also like to mix in a bunch of chopped green onions.
Want to add a "finishing sauce"?
This dish has plenty of flavor on it's own (lap cheong is truly magic in that way), but if I have extra time I make a sauce to drizzle on top of the dish.
All you need to do combine smashed garlic (5-6 cloves) and 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a small saucepan. Cook on low heat till the garlic is soft and fragrant (you just want to make the oil all garlicky tasting). Remove the garlic* from the pot. Then add 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sugar. Mix and simmer for a few minutes. Add a little roasted sesame oil. Remove from heat and then drizzle the sauce over the rice and lap cheong!
*Save the garlic to snack on later. Or mix the whole garlic pieces into the lup cheong and rice bowl.
Chinese Sausage and Rice Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Chinese Sausage (Lap Cheong) and Rice
Yield: Lunch/dinner for 2!
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes 30 seconds
Total Time: 50 minutes 30 seconds
This easiest meal ever! Combine rice and Chinese sausage in a rice cooker and hit the 'cook' button. The sausage and rice will be done at the same time (and the flavors/juices from the sausage will be infused into the rice, super onolicious).
Ingredients
Instructions
- Directly in the rice cooker pot, rinse the rice several times in water until the water runs almost clear. Fill with water to the “1 cup rice” line.
- Lay the lap cheong links on top (you can slice the links to make it fit nicely). Cook the rice as you would normally cook a cup of rice in the rice cooker. Once it’s finished, both the rice and lap cheong is ready to eat!
- Remove the lap cheong and slice it into bite-size pieces. Spoon the rice into a bowl and top it with the sliced lap cheong. Or you can add the sliced lap cheong back into the rice pot and mix everything together. We also like to add chopped green onions for a bit of color. Spoon into a bowl and eat hot! So onolicious ^_^
Notes
*We are referring to "rice cup" (which should have come with your rice cooker) and not a "regular cup." A regular cup is 240ml. A rice cup is 180ml.
To measure using a regular cup: ¾ of a regular cup = 1 rice cup.
