Hawaiian Electric’s Mochi Rice Stuffing

lunch-spreadEvery Thanksgiving, Aunty makes this mochi rice stuffing for friends and family.  The very first year, we used it to stuff the turkey that Uncle and Cousin Mike were in charge of – using a large hibachi grill with dome cover.  Because the turkey was stuffed, it took way longer to cook and the 2 “boys” came in sunburned, quite drunk with too many beers, and the stuffing oozing out and charred.

It was really really delicious, though, but the following years, we stopped stuffing it into turkeys in order to save on cooking and drinking time.

We use Mow Lee & Co.  lup cheong from a hole in the wall place at 774 Commercial Street in San Francisco .  Any brand will do, but Aunty really likes the freshness and taste of this one.

Here is the link to Hawaiian Electric’s recipe, or follow along with Aunty below.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups mochi rice
2 1/2 cups water
6 large dried mushrooms, soaked (start the soaking first or use fresh)
3 slices bacon, chopped
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 lb diced lup cheong (Chinese sausage)
1 cup chopped water chestnuts
2 tablespoons chopped Chinese parsley
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Dash of pepper

Soak the 6 large dried shiitake mushrooms, following package directions.  The Korean shiitake mushrooms from Costco require soaking it in just boiled water for quite a while.  Do this part early because sometimes those mushrooms seems to take forever to soften, or use fresh ones.

Cook the 2 1/2 cups of mochi (sweet) rice in your rice cooker.  I usually do 5 cups so we have more stuffing.  Sometimes I soak before cooking, but many times I don’t remember to prep the rice so I just cook it like regular.

Chop, chop, chop all the ingredients.  This is the junk part but if you prep it all ahead of time, it becomes a pleasure to cook rather than a chore.  Chop the non greasy stuff first, i.e. onions, green onions, mushrooms, water chestnuts, Chinese parsley.  Then chop the lup cheong, then the bacon.  I put the chopped onions, green onions, lup cheong, and mushrooms in a big bowl together, and the water chestnuts and Chinese parsley in a smaller bowl together.  The bacon goes right into the pan.

Using the biggest non stick pan you have and a large wooden paddle, stir fry the bacon until crisp.  Then, stir fry in the big bowl of chopped stuff – onions, green onions, lup cheong, and mushrooms.  Cook until onions are clear.

Add the cooked mochi rice in dollops or chunks and stir fry, breaking up the clumps of rice and then add the water chestnuts, Chinese parsley, soy sauce, salt, sugar, and dash of pepper.

Stir fry until you are happy.  Your arms might be tired from all that stirring, but the aromas and deliciousness are your reward.  Serve and enjoy!

11 thoughts on “Hawaiian Electric’s Mochi Rice Stuffing

  1. Mochi rice stuffing is my absolute favorite! My sister makes a slightly different recipe but still good, and she always makes it with a teriyaki turkey, something about rubbing char siu mix on the turkey before roasting, shredding the meat and pouring teriyaki sauce over. Absolutely yummmmmms paired with the mochi rice!!! Fortunately, she makes it several times during the year since I always travel for Thanksgiving,
    Thanks for the recipe. Maybe one day…….

    • Thanks! This year I think I used too much water when I made the mochi rice – and used the “sweet rice” setting on my rice cooker. It came out very very soft – like mochi.

  2. I just wrote a blog post for Monday about all that chopping and dicing. It’s really a pain, but worth it to see family gobble it up. Nothing was left after everybody took it home for left overs.

    • This year it was easy – I chopped everything up the night before and stored it in the refrig until ready to cook. I also used a really big light wok that I found at Ross this year. It made turning and stirring the rice mixture so much easier.

      If I have leftovers, I put it in the pot of jook. I think my next post will be about making jook since my nephew just asked me about it after gobbling it up after the feast.

  3. Happy BElated Thanksgiving, Aunty. I’m still recuperating from all that cooking. Wow! That is the SAME recipe that was given to me by my friend, Carol who passed away earlier this year. That stuffing takes a LOT of work but I do it just because so many family members love it.

  4. Wow! This appears like the long-lost “best” chinese rice stuffing I found years ago.
    Originally from the NY times, the recipe was re-printed in a local paper. The cook was an older, esteemed Chinese woman. I remember that the stuffing was better than the turkey. Missing ground pork & the wine for mushroom soaking, but yours sounds like a winner too!

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