In early March, during the nascent days of pandemic toilet paper and hand sanitizer hoarding, mom dispatched me to buy more rice which she’d heard through the Chinese grapevine was also flying off the shelves. She was in a tizzy because that 25lbs bag in the downstairs pantry was clearly insufficient to get us through a few months of quarantine. Shockingly, Costco was out of stock–so I had to hit up the neighborhood Asian market. Surely they’d have a reasonable stockpile–I mean it’s every Asian market’s must-have staple, along with pork products, noodles, and 15 varieties of soy sauce.

My assumptions were wrong…not about the pork products or soy sauce…just about the rice. The shelves weren’t exactly bare, but they’d sold out of the larger bags (or what we’d consider the “normal” size), leaving behind puny 5lbs bags only “amateur” rice eaters would buy. Fortunately I managed to snag the last 25lbs sack of the Nishiki brown short grain rice mom almost exclusively ate these days. For myself I grabbed what I thought was 5lbs of jasmine rice, which I usually reserved for dishes like fried rice or curry. When I arrived home I discovered what I’d actually bought was Thai sweet rice or glutinous sticky rice. Great.

Don’t get me wrong I loved sticky rice. I laved eating sticky rice in its many forms. I’d just never cooked it myself. But not wanting to schlep that bag all the way back to the Asian market (really, what was the point?), I figured I could at least make mango coconut sticky rice…a lot of it…once I found some mangos

It did occur me, a couple of weeks later (still not having gotten any good mangos), that I could just as easily use the sweet rice to make one of my favorite childhood sticky rice dishes No Mi Fan–steamed sticky rice studded with bits of Chinese sausage, shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, and sometimes bits of fried omelet. Both my mom and grandma would make this addictive savory sticky rice as a “special treat,” which of course in my child’s mind meant that was yet another complicated dish, on par with something like gok zai. Nothing could be further from the truth.

No Mi Fam in its simplest form is surprisingly easy to make. You simply rinse and soak the raw rice in cold water for about 2 hours, then drain off the soaking liquid, add a little fresh water and touch of salt to the rice and steam it on high heat for about 30-40 mins. depending of the amount of rice.

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While the rice is steaming you chop up and stir-fry the “mix-ins” and fold everything into the cooked rice and garnish with some fresh chopped scallions.

You’ll find different variations of this savory sticky rice dish at Chinese delis (often a steam table selection), and at dim sum restaurants displayed under inverted glass bowls…

or in the form of lotus leaf-wrapped steamed chicken and sticky rice bundles called No Mi Gai, another one of my dim sum must-haves.

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Not having any lotus leaves handy, I’ve been making a version that is a hybrid of both types–flavorful diced chicken thigh meat marinated in rice wine, ginger, light soy sauce, sugar, white pepper and a little cornstarch, fresh shiitakes, diced Chinese sausage and chopped scallions.

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On a chilly (or even not so chilly) day, this is the kind of classic Chinese comfort food that soothes the soul, quiets a growling stomach, and gives you fuel to make it through to the night. But be warned–don’t eat too big a portion or you might end up in food coma!

No Mi Fan

Yield: 2 servings

• 1 1/4 c. sweet rice (glutinous)
• 1 T. neutral oil
• 1/4 t. sea salt
• 3/4 c. cold water
• 1 medium skinless, boneless chicken thigh, diced
• 1 t. grated fresh peeled ginger
• 1/2 t. sugar
• 1 t. rice wine or dry sherry
• 1/2 t. sesame oil
• 1 t. light soy sauce
• pinch of ground white pepper
• 1 t. cornstarch
• 4 medium fresh or rehydrated dried shiitakes, 1/2’d & sliced
• 1 Chinese sausage, diced
• 1 t. oyster sauce
• 1 t. dark soy sauce
• 1 large scallion, chopped

1. Place the raw rice in a mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly under cold water for about a minute. Transfer the rice into a bowl, cover with about 1/2″ cold water and soak for at least 2 hours.
2. Drain the soaked rice very well, transfer into a heat proof dish (about 1.5 qt capacity) that has been coated in 1 t. oil, add salt and 3/4 c. water.
3. Place dish in a steamer basket or on a rack set over 2″ water. Steam rice on high for about 30-35 mins. *Replenish the water in the steamer as needed.
4. Marinate the chicken in ginger, sugar, rice wine, sesame oil, light soy, white pepper, and cornstarch for about 15 mins.
5. Heat remaining oil in a wok or skillet on medium high, add the chicken and stir-fry for about a minute, then add the shiitakes and sausage. Stir-fry for another minute until chicken is cooked through.
6. Toss in half the scallions, along with dark soy and oyster sauce. Remove from heat and transfer everything into a bowl.
7. Once the rice is cooked, fold in the mix-ins and top with remaining scallions.