Preparation
15 minutes
Cooking
30 minutes
Difficulty
Easy
It is said that “a pigeon is worth more than nine chickens.” Pigeon can be prepared in many different dishes and is often used in soup dishes. Today, let’s enter the kitchen to make a steamed dish from pigeon!
Ingredients for Pigeon Rice For 4 people
Pigeon fillet 500 gr ST21 rice 600 gr Dried shiitake mushrooms 8 pieces Coconut milk 100 ml Ginger 1 piece Shallots 2 pieces Garlic 1 piece Coriander a little Chrysanthemum wine 2 teaspoons Fish sauce a little Sesame oil 1/2 teaspoon Cooking oil a little Common spices a little (pepper/salt/seasoning)
How to choose delicious, fresh pigeons
- To prepare tastier dishes, you should choose young pigeons, which are about 10 to 15 days old, as their meat is very rich in protein, fragrant, and fatty, carrying a lot of high nutritional value.
- When buying pre-prepared pigeons, you should select those that look fresh, with pink skin and not pale.
- When purchasing, you should lift the wings of the pigeon and gently press with your hand; if the meat feels thick, it indicates a good young pigeon. Additionally, press on the breast area to check if the meat is tender, as you should choose pigeons with a soft breast for quality.
- Avoid buying those with pale colors, unpleasant odors, soft, mushy meat that is not firm. Also, do not choose pigeons that are too small or too large, as their meat will not be as good as that of young pigeons.
Some information about ST21 rice
- ST21 rice, also known as Long Lài rice, is a specialty rice from Sóc Trăng. This rice has a fragrant aroma and a higher nutrient content than other types of rice due to being crossbred from many fragrant rice varieties.
- ST21 rice has small, slender grains, about 6.8mm long, with a translucent white color and a light aroma of jasmine flowers. When cooked, the rice has a distinctive fragrance, and the grains are both sticky and sweet.
- Currently, you can purchase this rice at most rice distributors nationwide and at both large and small supermarkets.
- The price of rice is approximately 40,000 VND/kg – 190,000 VND/5kg (price updated on 04/03/2021)
How to prepare Pigeon Rice
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Wash the rice and prepare the ingredients
After purchasing ST21 rice, put it in a basin to wash, rinse the rice 2 to 3 times with water to remove dirt, then drain.
Peel the ginger, wash it clean and slice it thinly.
Peel the shallots and garlic, wash them clean and chop finely.
Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for about 15 minutes until they soften. Then squeeze out the water and slice them thinly.
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Stir-fry the rice and cook
Heat a pan on the stove, add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, when the oil is hot, add 1 tablespoon of chopped shallots and sliced ginger to sauté until fragrant.
When the shallots and ginger are fragrant and turn golden, add all the washed rice to stir-fry, add the sliced shiitake mushrooms and gradually pour in 100 ml of coconut milk. Stir-fry over medium heat for 5 minutes, when the rice is firm and slightly sticky, turn off the heat, and transfer all the stir-fried rice to the rice cooker.
Add 500 ml of water to the rice cooker, stir well, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of seasoning, and 1 teaspoon of fish sauce, then stir well for the seasoning to dissolve. Once the seasoning is dissolved, place the rice cooker on to cook.
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Preparation of pigeon
To prevent the pigeon meat from having a fishy smell during cooking, after purchasing, you should pluck out any remaining down feathers and remove any blood vessels, then wash with diluted salt water, and rinse several times with clean water.
Use a knife to cut the pigeon meat and chop it finely; you can also chop the soft bones like the neck and head of the pigeon.
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Marinate pigeon meat
Place the finely chopped pigeon meat in a bowl or plate for marinating, add 2 teaspoons of minced shallots, 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, 2 teaspoons of fish sauce, 2 teaspoons of chrysanthemum wine, 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil, mix well for the meat to absorb the seasonings.
Tip: If you don’t have chrysanthemum wine, you can substitute it with white wine! -
Stir-fry the pigeon and mix with rice
Place a pan on the stove, heat 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, when the oil is hot, add 1 teaspoon of minced garlic to sauté until fragrant, then add the marinated pigeon meat to stir-fry, cooking for about 10 minutes over medium heat until the pigeon meat is dry, when the meat is dry and crumbly, you can adjust the seasoning to taste and then turn off the heat.
Take the cooked rice out of the pot, add the stir-fried pigeon meat into the pot, and mix the rice and pigeon thoroughly. That’s it! Serve in a bowl and enjoy, adding a bit of cilantro for a nice touch!
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Final product
The pigeon rice is fragrant, with ST21 rice being the ingredient that highlights this dish, sweet and soft rice, delicious and sweet pigeon meat, enjoyed with chewy shiitake mushrooms, absolutely amazing!
With the recipe for pigeon rice dish that TasteVN has provided above, we hope it will help diversify your menu. Wishing you success!
*Reference the recipe and images from the YouTube channel Vo Quoc Channel
