Chinese Pumpkin Rice
This Chinese Pumpkin rice is a super easy and flavorful rice cooker recipe: the soft pumpkin cubes melt in your mouth, contrasting with the firm bite of the white rice grains. Moreover, it only takes 10 minutes to prepare and the rest of the work is up to your rice cooker!
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 123kcal
Equipment
- Pot/ pan and spatula
- Rice cooker You can also cook the rice over the stove in the same pot that you sautéed the garlic in but I have yet to test this version for the time taken. If so, remember to use a pot with a cover.
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons dried shrimp soaked in warm water. Also known as Udang Kering. You can double the amount if you want to use some as a topping for the rice.
- 5 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1 Cup white rice raw, washed. If substituting with brown rice, the rice will take longer to cook. if you don't want your pumpkin too mushy, you can add it halfway through the cooking process
- 1½ Cups pumpkin cut into ½ inch cubes (150g). Use Japanese Kabocha for a more attractive golden color.
- 1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1½-2 Tablespoons light soy sauce Normally I leave the brand of soy sauce up to the reader, but as we need the right level of salinity here, note that I used Lee Kum for all 3 sauces in this recipe. You can substitute with other brands, but it will be saltier/ less salty than my version. If bland, add a bit of salt after the rice has been cooked then mix well, and remember to increase the amount of soy sauce for the next time you cook this. If too salty, use a low-sodium soy sauce or decrease to amount used to 1 Tablespoon.
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper Do not substitute with black pepper. Omit if unavailable.
Instructions
- Drain the dried shrimp and keep the soaking water to cook the rice.
- Pan fry the dried shrimp in a bit of oil till nice and crisp. If you made extra, place it on some paper towels to soak up extra oil, for use as a rice garnish later.Note: the pot of some cookers may be usable on induction stoves. If so, you can do this in the rice cooker pot and make it a 1-pot recipe!
- Add the minced garlic to the same pan as the remaining shrimps and stir fry over a low fire till fragrant. (Garlic burns easily.)
- Add in the washed rice. Be careful as the oil will splutter. Turn up the fire to medium high then stir fry quickly to briefly toast the grains.
- Transfer everything to the rice cooker pot. Add the prawn soaking water and add more (regular) water till the first line on your index finger. Note: Alternatively, follow the guideline on the rice cooker pot for the amount of water to add.
- Add the pumpkin cubes to the pot, followed by the sauces. Add the white sugar and pepper, then press the button to start the cooking process! Note: The dark soy and oyster will stick to the spoon so you can "wash" it in the water!
- Once the rice cooker indicates that it has finished cooking, let the rice stand for another 5 minutes, before uncovering, gently fluffing up and serving.
Notes
The serving size of 4 people is based on serving this Chinese rice with side dishes, such as soy sauce chicken or braised wings.
You can vary this dish by adding crab meat or cubed chicken meat. Marinade the meat in the sauces and seasoning specified the recipe for a few hours, then add to the rice cooker with the pumpkin and cook.
Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its accuracy.
Nutrition
Calories: 123kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 84mg | Sodium: 892mg | Potassium: 278mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 178IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 1mg