This is truly a flavor from my hometown. Like the “Lion’s Head” Meatball Soup, this dish is from Huaiyang Cuisine in the Jiangsu and Shanghai region. I probably never ate this dish after I left home for my college. It has been almost 30 years. I never cooked this dish by myself. However, the memory of the flavor has always been very vivid in my mind.
This dish has two key ingredients, uncured bacon, and Shanghai bok choy. When I was young, the bacon was only made in the winter as nobody had a refrigerator. The bacon is made with rubbing pork belly with salt/liquor. The seasoned pork belly is stored at room temperature (typically 30-40F) for a few days. The pork bellies are then air-dried outside for about 7-14 days. This way, the bacon could last until April to May. Even today, most families in the area I grew up still prepare the bacon before Lunar New Year (around late January).
Shanghai bok choy is another important ingredient in this dish. Bok choy is grown during winter season. The best time to use bok choy is after it is exposed to frost. After the exposure, the bok choy is tender and sweet. Simply stir frying it with pork lard and fried bean curd or add it to soups, hot pots are very popular way to use bok choy. The sweetness, color, and texture of the bok choy greatly enhance the experience of this dish.
The ingredients I used are a little different from those in my hometown since I don’t make the bacon and the bok choy I could buy is grown in hot room. Despite this, it still brings me back to the old times. Interestingly, my kids also like this dish.
Chinese Bacon Rice 咸肉菜饭
Equipment
- rice cooker
- 10" sauce pan
Ingredients
- 3 cups short grain rice
- 0.5 lbs Chinese bacon
- 3 oz Chinese sausage
- 0.5 lbs bok choy
- 1 tbsp oil (pork fat preferred)
- sprinkle salt
Instructions
- Rinse and soak the bacon in cold water for 90-120 mins to remove excess salt
- Cut the bacon and sausage into 1/4" pieces
- Rinse the rice with cold water until the water is almost clear. Put the bacon and sausage into the rice and start cooking (remember to keep a few fat pieces for the next step)
- When the rice is almost done, rinse and cut the bok choy to 1/4" pieces
- Add oil and the fat pieces to the sauce pan. Put it on the stove, and turn the heat to medium to render the grease from the fat. Remove the fat, and turn the heat to high
- Put the bok choy pieces into the pan, and stir until juice comes out (about 2-3 mins)
- Add the cooked bok choy to the cooked rice and mix thoroughly. Put the rice cooker lid on. Turn to "keep warm" for 10-15 mins
- Serve with a soup or other side dishes
Video
Notes
- I never cooked this dish ever since I left my parents house. The ratio of bacon/sausage/bok choy/rice is not ideal. It seems 3 cups of rice would need 1lbs of bok choy, 1/2 lbs bacon and 1/2 lbs of sausage.
- If you have pork lard, you could use it to cook the bok choy instead of rendering it from the fat piece.
- If you don't have rice cooker, cook the rice with a sauce pan use the rice/water ratio recommended on the rice package. When I was young, we didn't have rice cooker.
- You can stir fry the bacon and sausage before adding to the rice.
- You can cook the bok choy together with rice instead of post adding. The issue is long time cooking turn the bok choy yellowish.
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