Easy Pressure Cooker Lo Mai Gai (Steamed Sticky Rice with Chicken) – Traditional savory steamed sticky rice with chicken you found at dim sum restaurant is pressure-cooked. Seriously no fuss easy recipe and flavorful.
The temperature is absolutely horrible. -5 Fahrenheit!! Which is so perfect to cuddle up at home. I’m so glad the kids don’t have school and I don’t have to rush to get them to school early in the morning! I’m usually the second one to rise in the morning. My 4-year old is my alarm clock at 6:30 in the morning! Today, I rose at 8 am!!! EIGHT!! I haven’t woke up at 8 am in the morning ever since I have kids 7 years ago! Both kids were still asleep too! The husband was the first one to rise because he has to go to work.
It makes me feel how so grateful I am to be able to stay at home with the kids and work from home too, doing what I love doing. No fancy office or fancy office attire, but I was able to work in my PJ down in our basement! I’m still recovering from post-holiday feast! Getting together with family and friends during holiday time is the best! Now, of course it’s Tuesday and reality sets in and I need to think of what to cook for lunch!!! I decided to make this Instant Pot Indonesian Chicken Curry for lunch. The chicken was still frozen because I was totally unprepared! But I still manage to make it in 30 minutes! I love pressure cooker! I love Instant Pot for real!
I transferred the curry to another big pot and decided to make this Easy Pressure Cooker Lo Mai Gai (Steamed Sticky Rice with Chicken). Usually I need to plan ahead with this. I need to soak the sticky rice for at least 4 hours, but with Instant Pot pressure cooker feature, no soaking required for the rice. I managed to whip it up in 30 minutes too!! It turns out amazing!!! So people…I made two dishes with Instant pot in less than 2 hours! I’m an Instant Pot convert!
Lo Mai Gai usually needs about 2 hours of steaming time, soaking the rice for 4 hours before that, so, it’s almost impossible to make it without planning ahead if you ask me! Now I can pretty much make it whenever I feel like it. For real!
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**I updated the cooking time for pressure cooker. Please see notes on recipe card for more detail.
*Recipe is written for 6-quart Instant Pot. Cooking time should remain the same for 8-quart size but will take longer to pressurize. For mini duo (3-quart), I suggest to half the recipe and use the same amount of time to cook*
I highly encourage to weigh ingredients with a digital kitchen scale instead of using measuring cups as they are not very accurate especially when it comes to recipe that requires precision.
GRAMS TO CUPS CONVERSION (UNSIFTED)INGREDIENTS
- 1 large lotus leaves - if using, soaked for 1 hour
- 2 cups Glutinous Rice - about 400 grams
- 2 boneless chicken thighs - cut into bite-size pieces
- 3 links Chinese sausage - sliced into 1/2-inch pieces at an angle
- 2 cups water - about 400 ml
Ingredients need soaking:
- 4-5 Shitake Mushrooms - soak in warm water for 15 minutes
- 2 Tbsp dried shrimp - soak in warm water for 10 minutes
- 5 pieces dried chestnut - soak in hot water for 10 minutes
Seasoning:
- 2 Tbsp soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp cooking wine
Suggested Cooking Equipment:
- Instant pot
- Steamer
INSTRUCTIONS
Cooking with Instant Pot (pot in pot method):
- Pour 2 cups of water in the instant pot. Set the trivet. In a large heat-proof container (that can fit into your instant pot, mine is 6-qt IP). You can use round glass container, stainless steel, or anything that is labeled "oven proof" can be used. If using glass and ceramic material, you may need to add extra 5 minutes to cooking time
- Line the container with lotus leaf. Place the rice, chicken, water chestnut, sausage, mushroom, and dried shrimp in the container. Pour in 2 cups of water. Add the seasoning and use a spoon to give it a stir to make sure the liquid is covering the rice. Place on top of the trivet. Close the lid. Turn the steam release handle to Seal. Press pressure cooker, high pressure and set the timer to 30 minutes (see notes)
- Once 30 minutes is done. Wait for 10 minutes and then turn the steam release handle to venting and make sure the pressure valve has gone down all the way down before you open the lid for safety measure
- For presentation, I sliced the shiitake mushroom and then arrange the mushrooms, chicken, sausage on the bottom of a bowl and then pack the sticky rice on top and inverted it into a plate before serving
Stove-top method:
- Get your steamer ready. In a large skillet, heat some oil and saute the dried shrimp until fragrant. Add chicken, Chinese sausage, water chestnut and stir fry until the chicken turns opaque, about 5 minutes. Add the seasonings and soaked rice. Stir to mix everything
- Brush the lotus leaf with some cooking oil, place half of the rice chicken mixture on the leaf and then fold the sides of the leaf over, like wrapping a parcel. Secure with kitchen twine if necessary. Repeat with another packet. Place in the steamer and steam for the next 1.5-2 hours. Remove from the steamer and serve immediately
Notes
CHECK OUT THESE OTHER INSTANT POT RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE:
TAIWANESE BEEF NOODLE SOUP (NIU ROU MIEN)
CHICKEN MUSHROOMS WITH DOM BENEDICTINE
PORK AND SHRIMP SIU MAI (COOK AND SELL DUMPLINGS)
20 comments
Hi! Thank you so much for your recipe, probably a stupid question, but I wanted to confirm that your two cups of rice is a regular (US) measuring cup and not the rice measuring cup that comes with rice cookers?
Hi Ann, it’s not a stupid question at all. Thank you for asking! Yes, the measuring cup is the standard U.S. measuring cup and not the one that comes with the rice cooker. You can use that too, just make sure you use the same cup (whatever cup it is) to measure the liquid too. The cup that comes with rice cooker is usually “smaller” in quantity I think.
Delicious! Made a few modifications as my family likes more rice; one thigh, 2 sausage, 2 mushrooms, no lotus leaf, shrimp or chestnuts. Added diced piece of preserved pork belly and 1/2 t. white pepper. Used a metal bowl on top of the trivet. Some rice kernels not quite cooked in middle of bowl, next time will add a minute or two to cook time. SUPER EASY and even picky eaters loved.
Hello, I love your modifications. I’m glad you find it easy and good idea to add a minute or two to ensure rice is evenly cooked.
Hi Marvellina,
I have just started using pressure cooker and a big fan of Lo Mai Gai, hence your recipe is super great for me. May i ask how many grams would be your 2 cups of glutinous rice?
Hi Cecilia, it’s roughly about 400 grams. I’ve updated the recipe too. Hope it helps!
Thanks so much for this recipe! What kind of bowl/container can I use as the “large heat-proof container” to set on the trivet when using the instant pot method? Thanks again.
Hi Matt, you can use a glass round container (like pyrex), or any ceramic bowl or container, round stainless steel bowl/container can be used too. The glass and ceramic may add some extra time compared to stainless steel material.
Hi! Thank you for sharing this with the world! I’m trying to make this for Thanksgiving–do you think it’s possible to double the recipe? Would 4 cups of rice fit into the 6 qt Instant Pot?
Hi Vicky,
I cooked the sticky rice with pot-in-pot method, meaning I set another heat-proof bowl on top of the trivet, so the rice is not cooking directly in the inner pot of the IP. I highly recommend doing this because if you cook it directly in IP inner pot, most likely you will get the “burn” message because sticky rice is so sticky and when something stuck to the pot, it will trigger the “burn” message. To answer your question about doubling the recipe, I haven’t tried cooking that amount at one go myself. My only concern with cooking that much is that some of the rice may not cook properly because we can’t “stir” in the midst of cooking with IP if you know what I mean. So, long story short, if you have deep enough bowl to accommodate the sticky rice, you can probably try to cook this amount, but you definitely need to increase the cooking time 45 minutes to 1 hour possibly to make sure all the rice cooked through. I hope I’m making some sense here.
Hi! I want to make the filling in the instant pot but put them in the lotus leaf afterwards to freeze for later use. Should I steam again after I fill them or just wait until I eat them? Thanks!
Hi Jennifer,
You can pre-wrap the filling in the leaf and then freeze them and freeze them whenever you want to eat them 🙂 That’s a great idea btw!! Hope that helps!
What kind of pot did you use and how large does it need to be? My aunt (who is Taiwanese) lives in Bali and married an Indonesian man. We used to go there as a family. Miss it and especially the food. So thankful I found your blog.
Hi Sunny,
Are you referring to the Instant Pot? Mine is 6 quart in size and I used a 7-inch bowl to steam the rice. My steamer is about 10-inch in diameter if that’s what you are referring to.
Wow…your aunt lives in Bali! I love Bali too. Sadly speaking, I only been there once, and that was on a business trip and on my own, not fun! ha..ha…! I definitely need to go back there with my family! I’m so glad you stumble upon my blog and thank you for trying out some of the recipes 🙂 I’m honored!!!
I grew up in Indonesia for 21 years! Now I’m in Los Angeles with a toddler and figuring out what to cook today with Instant Pot. So glad to find this blog! 🙂
Hi Agnes! Glad to have known another Indonesian 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope some of the recipes are useful for you 🙂
Hi! Would like to try this recipe – looks delicious. Do you used dried chestnuts or water chestnuts? Thanks.
Hi Edna, I used the dried chestnut, not water chestnuts 🙂
Hello! Such a genius idea! Can’t wait to make this! How many minutes do you soak the rice for if you’re using a pressure cooker? Thank you!!!
Hi Christine, for pressure cooker, you don’t have to soak the rice 🙂 That’s the part I like the most!!!!