How To Make Sausage Rice

This recipe is literally not a recipe at all. It requires two ingredients and I already mentioned it in the title of the post. But I will repeat them just for emphasis: you will need Chinese sausage and rice. That's it.

And here's what you do with them: Cut the sausage into slices, dump them into the rice cooker with some uncooked rice, the required amount of water, and push the button. As Ron Popeil would say, "Set it and forget it!"

Before long dinner will be ready and it will be one of the easiest paths to deliciousness you've ever taken.

How much water and how much rice? The answer is whatever you usually use. Two parts rice, three parts water works for me. And how much sausage? As much as you want. When you start to think it's too much is where it'll be about right.

The most important thing to know other than there's not much else to know about this recipe is this: Do not attempt to cook the sausage first. This will be a mistake. You see, you want the sausage to cook with the rice so that all that delicious fat will remain in the pot to lubricate the grains. What results will be something that tastes almost exactly like Hainan chicken rice--rice that is fluffy, flavorful, and rich, not to mention studded with pieces of that sausage, now rendered tender and sweet.

Another thing you should know: You want to eat it immediately while fuming hot. Some Sriracha does quite well as a condiment.

If you want to get fancy, you can do as I did recently, forming the sausage rice into a dome shape by using a bowl.

I also like to serve it with some Chinese chicken broth on the side. To make the broth I take a whole can (available for less than a dollar at Asian markets), dilute it with another can of water, and then let it come to a boil in a soup pot. Then I ladle the broth into a bowl with boiled bok choy and sliced scallions. The soup and the greens offset the richness of the sausage rice perfectly.

Don't believe how simple it is? Think of this: At this point, you have officially taken longer to read this post on how to make sausage rice than to actually do it.

THIS WEEK ON OC WEEKLY:
Tavern on the Coast - Dana Point