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Preparation
30 minutes
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Cooking
1 hour 30 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Are you wondering what to cook for breakfast? TasteVN will show you how to make pandan leaf sticky rice with braised meat, a steamed dish that is not only delicious but also very simple and not complicated at all! What are you waiting for, get cooking and make hot sticky rice for the whole family to enjoy right away!
Ingredients for Pandan Leaf Sticky Rice with Braised Meat Serves 6
Pork 1 kg (thigh or lean meat) Sticky rice 2 kg (choose the good quality yellow flower sticky rice) Pandan leaves 250 gr Vietnamese coriander leaves 100 gr Coconut milk 700 ml (the milk extracted from the second pressing onwards) Coconut cream 500 ml White wine 2 tablespoons Shallots 2 bulbs Garlic 4 cloves Annatto powder 1/2 teaspoon (or 1 teaspoon of annatto oil) Five spice powder 1 teaspoon Hoisin sauce 1 tablespoon Cooking oil 2 tablespoons Soy sauce 1 tablespoon Common seasoning a little (salt/ sugar/ seasoning powder/ monosodium glutamate)
How to choose fresh ingredients
How to choose fresh pandan leaves
- Choose older, longer leaves that are thick and as dark in color as possible.
- Buy pandan leaves from reputable sources to ensure safety and quality.
How to choose fresh water spinach leaves
- You should choose water spinach with thin but firm leaves. Absolutely avoid buying water spinach with thick, soft leaves, or curled, abnormal leaves. These could be water spinach that has been sprayed with pesticides.
- Fresh and clean water spinach has a light green color, with uneven leaves, and some leaves may have been eaten by pests. Meanwhile, you should avoid buying water spinach that is dark green, too young, uniform in size, and has no leaves with pest damage.
- To buy safe water spinach, you should buy it in the right season (from July to March of the following year), avoiding off-season purchases.
How to choose fresh pork
- For braised pork dishes, you should choose the thigh or lean meat part to ensure the meat is tender and delicious when cooked.
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Observe the color and smell of the meat: quality pork will have a light pink to dark red color, with no sour smell. When cutting meat vertically, you will see the inside is dry, the fibers slightly shrink, the skin is soft, the fat is translucent to slightly creamy, and there is no strong smell of oil when sniffed.
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Press your finger into the meat to create a dent but it should not leave a mark when you lift your finger. At this point, if you observe and see the meat fibers are even, firm, not mushy, have good elasticity, and there is no leakage of fluid or sliminess, then it is good pork.
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Typically, good pork will have a fat layer about 1.5 – 2cm thick. The fat and lean meat should be tightly attached to each other.
Tools needed:
How to make Sticky Rice with Pandan and Braised Meat
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Blend and boil the 2 types of leaves
Add 100g of pandan leaves, 100g of Vietnamese coriander leaves along with 700ml of diluted coconut milk into a blender and blend until smooth.
After blending, strain the mixture to extract the coconut milk.
Next, pour the pandan and Vietnamese coriander leaf coconut milk mixture into a pot and place it on the stove. Add 2 teaspoons of salt to give the sticky rice a savory flavor. Cook until the mixture just starts to boil, then turn off the heat.
Tip: Since pandan leaves do not retain their color when cooked at high temperatures or for a long time, use Vietnamese coriander leaves to give the sticky rice a richer green color and better color retention.
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Soak the sticky rice
First, rinse the sticky rice thoroughly, then soak it for 8 – 10 hours.
Note: Rinse the sticky rice before soaking to prevent it from becoming soft, as it may break easily when rinsed.
Prepare the marinated ingredients
Wash the pork thoroughly after buying it, then cut it into moderately sized pieces.
Next, finely chop the shallots and garlic.
Marinate and braise the pork
Add 1 tablespoon of chopped shallots and 1 tablespoon of minced garlic into a bowl.
Then add 1/2 teaspoon of annatto powder (or 1 tablespoon of annatto oil), 1 teaspoon of five-spice powder, 1 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate, 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce.
After that, add the pork and mix well. Marinate for 30 minutes for the pork to absorb the spices.
Next, heat a pan on the stove, add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil along with the remaining minced garlic into the pan.
Add the pork and sear until it firms up, then add 300ml of water.
Cook on high heat until the pork comes to a boil. After boiling for 3 minutes, reduce the heat to medium for a gentle simmer.
After simmering for 15 minutes, add 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Cook until the sauce starts to thicken, then turn off the heat.
Wait for the pork to cool slightly, then slice it into bite-sized pieces.
Make pandan coconut milk
Blend 100g of pandan leaves, put it in the refrigerator to let the coconut milk settle at the bottom.
Add 500ml of coconut milk to a pot, strain the pandan extract and add it in.
Next, place the pot on the stove, cook on low heat until the mixture starts to boil, then turn off the heat.
Wait for the mixture to cool down a bit, then divide it into 3 parts to drizzle over the sticky rice in 3 times.
First time: When the sticky rice has been steamed for 30 minutes, open the lid and gently fluff the rice, then drizzle 1/3 of the pandan extract over the sticky rice, mix well, and cover to steam further for another 15 – 20 minutes.
For the second and third times, do the same as the first time.
Note:- After drizzling the extract over the sticky rice for the second time, cover and steam the sticky rice for another 20 minutes.
- For the third drizzle, continue steaming until the sticky rice is soft to your liking.
Final Product
Scoop the sticky rice onto a plate, place the meat on top, and drizzle the meat sauce over it.
The sticky rice is chewy and soft, fragrant with pandan leaves, with an appealing green color enhanced by the reddish-orange of the braised meat. Each piece of meat is tender, infused with spices, and pairs really well with the sticky rice.
You can add chili sauce, fried onions, and crushed roasted peanuts if you like!
See more:
The article above has introduced simple and effective steps to make the fragrant, steaming pandan sticky rice with braised meat. I hope with the recipe shared by TasteVN, you will successfully make the sticky rice and have delicious meals!
*Content and images referenced from the YouTube channel Country Food of the Southwest
