30-minute, one pot (rice cooker) meal. You only need 2 ingredients: rice and Chinese sausage (lap cheong). Let's get cooking ^_^
Lap Cheong (Chinese Sausage) Over Rice
This is one of my favorite pantry meals. And it really is a pantry meal because all you need is:
- Rice
- Chinese sausage (lap cheong)
So easy! Just put everything in the rice cooker and let the rice cooker do all the work. You may also add chopped green onions, but that is optional.
Lap cheong over rice is an easy meal we gravitate towards when we crave "home cooking" but don't actually want to cook heheheh.
It also happens to be super onolicious. The lup cheong pieces get all steamy and tender. The fat and flavor from the sausage seasons each grain of rice. So the rice is also super flavorful! It is a magical meal and incredibly satisfying.
Here's how to do it.
You have the rice cooker? Ok good!
Remove the interior rice pot. Put the uncooked rice in the pot. Rinse the rice a few times with water (until the water runs almost clear). Then fill the pot with water just up to the marked line.
Layer the lap cheong links on top of the rice. Close the lid and press the "cook" button (or whichever button you usually press to start cooking the rice). Cook it like you're just cooking a regular cup of rice.
Sit back and wait, about 30 minutes. It's really that easy ^_^
How to Serve (2 Methods)
Once the rice finishes cooking (our rice cooker makes a gentle beeping sound when it's ready, but I'm hoping to upgrade to the rice cooker that sings Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star when finished!), let it sit for 5-10 minutes before opening.
Method 1 (pictured above)
Open the rice cooker and lift out the lap cheong links (be careful, they will be hot, hot, hot). Place them on a cutting board and slice into nice thick pieces. Fluff up the rice and scoop that out into two bowls (I usually estimate ½ cup uncooked rice per person). Then top the bowls with the sliced lap cheong and a sprinkle of chopped green onions (optional). Eat and enjoy.
Method 2 (first photo featured at the top of this post)
Open the rice cooker and lift out the lap cheong links. Place them on a cutting board and slice into nice thick pieces. Fluff up the rice and slice the sliced lap cheong back into the rice cooker along with a handful of chopped green onions (optional). Mix gently. Then scoop our and divide between two bowls. Eat and enjoy.
Note: you don't even have to season this dish because the lap cheong has so much flavor on it's own! No salt or pepper needed, but if you wanted to get *fancy*, you can make a finishing sauce to drizzle on right before eating. More on that in the Tips sections below.
What Is Chinese Sausage (Lap Cheong)?
Lap cheong is a pork-based Chinese sausage. Lap cheong is crazy tasty! The pork marinated, then salted and smoked. It's different from Italian sausage, German sausage, etc because it is much sweeter. You know the sweetness of char siu? Yes, think that kind of meaty juicy sweetness.
Lap cheong goes by a few different names:
Lap cheong = Cantonese
Làcháng = Mandarin
Chinese Sausage = English
In Hawaii, we say lap cheong because most of the Chinese in Hawaii are Cantonese-speaking. What's neat is that even if you visit a local (non-Chinese) supermarket or drugstore like Longs Drugs and ask for lap cheong, everyone will know what you're looking for. And yes, even the drugstore in Hawaii sells lap cheong!
Lap cheong is typically sold dried, in packs of 8-10 long links. (You can also get fresh lap cheong, but dried lap cheong is more common.) Lap cheong keeps for about six months in the fridge once opened, so you don't have to rush to finish them quickly. I usually keep one package in the fridge and use as needed.
How to cook Chinese sausage? There are many different ways, but the rice cooker method is definitely the easiest (and might be my favorite Chinese sausage recipe)! Other preparation methods include:
- Chop the lap cheong into small pieces and use it to make Chinese sausage fried rice.
- Slice it thick, saute (don't forget to drain excess oil/fat), and eat it with plain jook (or my favorite century egg and pork congee / jook).
- You can even make lap cheong bao (steamed Chinese buns with a whole lap cheong link).
The wonderful world of lap cheong is endless.
You can buy packages of lap cheong at Chinese supermarkets and even at some Costco locations. (Make sure to check out Costco Hawaii when you visit.) You can also purchase lap cheong online.
Tips
At my parents house we typically default to Jasmine rice. At our house, we use Japanese short grain rice. Either works! Both are delicious options. When in Hawaii, make sure to visit The Rice Factory for your Japanese rice (full post here).
Zojirushi is our favorite rice cooker brand and we have been using their rice cookers for as long as I can remember. We cook rice at least once a day (sometimes twice), so you could say our rice cooker is THE most important kitchen appliance in our home.
Our current rice cooker is an older model of this one. I've gone through at least five or six different models in my life including this basic one I had in my college dorm (it's pretty ideal if you want a rice cooker but 1) don't cook rice too often and 2) want one that takes up very little room).
P.S. Stay tuned if you like rice cooker recipes, many more are coming soon ^_^
Yes! There are so many things you can do. Sometimes I add in sliced shitake mushrooms or tofu. Feel free to experiment. Think of rice + lup cheong as the base, and then you can add in extras from there. Right before eating I also like to mix in a bunch of chopped green onions.
This dish has plenty of flavor on it's own (lap cheong is truly magic in that way), but if I have extra time I make a sauce to drizzle on top of the dish.
All you need to do combine smashed garlic (5-6 cloves) and 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a small saucepan. Cook on low heat till the garlic is soft and fragrant (you just want to make the oil all garlicky tasting). Remove the garlic* from the pot. Then add 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sugar. Mix and simmer for a few minutes. Add a little roasted sesame oil. Remove from heat and then drizzle the sauce over the rice and lap cheong!
*Save the garlic to snack on later. Or mix the whole garlic pieces into the lup cheong and rice bowl.
Chinese Sausage and Rice Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Chinese Sausage (Lap Cheong) and Rice
This easiest meal ever! Combine rice and Chinese sausage in a rice cooker and hit the 'cook' button. The sausage and rice will be done at the same time (and the flavors/juices from the sausage will be infused into the rice, super onolicious).
Ingredients
Instructions
- Directly in the rice cooker pot, rinse the rice several times in water until the water runs almost clear. Fill with water to the “1 cup rice” line.
- Lay the lap cheong links on top (you can slice the links to make it fit nicely). Cook the rice as you would normally cook a cup of rice in the rice cooker. Once it’s finished, both the rice and lap cheong is ready to eat!
- Remove the lap cheong and slice it into bite-size pieces. Spoon the rice into a bowl and top it with the sliced lap cheong. Or you can add the sliced lap cheong back into the rice pot and mix everything together. We also like to add chopped green onions for a bit of color. Spoon into a bowl and eat hot! So onolicious ^_^
Notes
*We are referring to "rice cup" (which should have come with your rice cooker) and not a "regular cup." A regular cup is 240ml. A rice cup is 180ml.
To measure using a regular cup: ¾ of a regular cup = 1 rice cup.
I’ve been eating this since law school! I sometimes add some sliced fresh mushrooms, or a cup of defrosted frozen peas, or some shredded Napa cabbage or baby bok choy.
Love those additions! They all sound so tasty 🙂
- Kathy
What can I use instead of lap cheongsam
Hi Kathy: Your post sure brings back memories. My late wife was Chinese and both she and I loved lup chong. In fact, we would frequently eat plain steamed lup chong; lup chong steamed with rice; and (my favorite) lup chong, shiitake mushrooms, takenoko, garlic, green onions, steamed with mochi rice (sticky rice; I forget what the Chinese name of this dish is called). My current wife is haole and she doesn't care for lup chong since she says it is too greasy. But just this past weekend, we went to eat dim sum and had that sticky rice with lup chong dish -- the one that comes in an upside down pyrex bowl. I also like the one that comes steamed in a lotus leaf, but I like the upside down bowl one better.
Hi Alan!
So many things we can do with lap cheong...I love it! Thanks for sharing such tasty memories. Working on another post the sticky/mochi rice and lap cheong. Your version with the shiitakes, garlic, etc sounds real good.
Oh man, I'm a big fan of the pyrex bowl AND the lotus leaf - hard to pick a favorite between those two ^_^
- Kathy
Found chinese sausage at our Costco today!! My brain totally cheered. Thanks. I would have never looked for it otherwise.
Hi Jeanne!
Hooray! It's SUCH a good deal at Costco ^_^
- Kathy
I have owned all of these rice cooker versions too. The first one was when I was a teen and ours was a pain to clean because it wasn't non-stick. We use the twinkle twinkle one now but omg, I think I paid $140 from HMart. They've gotten really pricey
So I guess I don't have to peel off the skin off the sausage. I've always wondered.
I love these easy meal recipes. They are perfect for when I'm too tired to cook.
Hi Jeanne!
Oh man, it seems like everyone has (and loves!) twinkle one...I really have to get on that ^_^
No need to peel the skin off the sausage (though my mom likes to peel it when she has the time/patience). The only thing I do is trim off the ends a tiny bit. Hope you enjoy!
- Kathy
Hehehe, that twinkle2 rice cooker is my current rice cooker... had it for 10 years and still working 😂😂😂
Hi Liv!
Ahh so lucky!! I've had my eye on that one for such a long time. Hopefully it will be our next rice cooker buy! ^_^
- Kathy
Hi, Kathy!
I'm laughing so hard right now! YOur college rice cooker is the one I bought in Chicago probably over 23 years ago. I love it, it still works, and that's how I've always made my sausage.
BUT, I can't believe it's $48 on Amazon! I think I paid around $15.
Best,
Karen
PS you were right about the musubi - as soon as I changed to short grain sushi rice, they completely hold together. I really thought I was already using a short grained rice!
Hi Karen!
Ahahah you have me laughing now!! I think my old rice cooker is sitting somewhere in my parent's home. And yes! I was surprised by the price...I remember paying in the $15-20 range for that rice cooker. Who knew the value would go up so much lol. Happy the musubi turned out better with the short grain sushi rice ^_^
- Kathy