Chinese Sausage with Sweet Soy Sauce

I was concerned. I had decided to give this recipe a try and was opening the package of Chinese sausage I’d bought when I noticed that one of the ingredients was monosodium glutamate (MSG). Horrors! While I didn’t think I’d have any problems with MSG, I wasn’t sure, as I’ve been avoiding it for a long time. I continued making the recipe and hoped for the best.

In the end, there were no problems.

Then, because I was interested, I looked online for answers. Apparently, I was operating on false information. In the past, the MSG contained in food eaten at a Chinese restaurant was blamed for a bunch of health issues (numbness at the back of the neck, gradually radiating to both arms and the back, general weakness and palpitations… thank you to Wikipedia for that information). It has since been shown that there is no correlation between MSG and the symptoms that were associated with eating food with it present.

I wonder why the disproving of the theory didn’t get the same kind of press that the original theory did. I’ve been operating under the impression that MSG causes heart palpitations and sweating and general discomfort for many years. I am glad to know the real story because this dish is really tasty!

This is perfect for a quick dinner after a long, hard day at work. If you can manage to stay standing long enough, you can chop some vegetables for a stir fry to go with.

Here goes.
If you’re going to eat meat, it should be happy.

Chinese style pork sausage.

Unwrapped.

Happy and looking like a strange insect.

Put the rice in the pot.

Rinsed rice.

Add the sausages to the pot.

Add the sausages.

While the rice and sausages are cooking, make the sweet soy sauce.
Put the chopped shallots and garlic in a saucepan with oil.

Shallots and garlic.

Browned, not burnt.

Cooked shallots and garlic.

Add the soy, Sherry, sugar, water and sesame oil to the now-flavoured oil.

Soy sauce, Sherry, sugar, water and sesame oil.

Chinese Sausage with Sweet Soy Sauce and rice, served over stir-fried bok choy.

Chinese sausage with sweet soy sauce.

The recipe and a video are here:
http://www.steamykitchen.com/26666-how-to-cook-chinese-sausage-recipe-video.html

Chinese Sausage with Sweet Soy Sauce
Servings: 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

The Sweet Soy Sauce is optional – trust me, the Chinese Sausage will have plenty of flavor alone. Cook the Sweet Soy Sauce while your Chinese Sausage and rice cook.

For the Chinese Sausage and Rice
2 cups uncooked rice, washed and drained well
4 Chinese sausages

For the Sweet Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon cooking oil (grapeseed, canola, vegetable, rice or peanut)
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 shallot, roughly chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine (or dry sherry)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions

Fill a pot with the rice and enough water to cover by 3/4″. Snuggle the sausages in the rice grains. Turn the heat to high. When the water near the edge of the pot starts bubbling, cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes.

Turn off heat and keep covered! Let it sit with the lid on for 5 minutes to finish the steaming process. Remove the sausages (careful, they are hot!) and slice them on the diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick pieces. Arrange the sausages on top of the rice and drizzle the Sweet Soy Sauce on top. Serve extra Sweet Soy Sauce at the table for drizzling.

Sweet Soy Sauce Directions

In a small saucepan, add in the oil, garlic and shallot. Turn heat to low and let the garlic and shallot cook slowly until they begin to brown but not burn. Carefully remove the shallots and garlic and discard, leaving the flavored oil. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes.