Whenever I think of sticky “oil” rice (there is no good translation) or youfan (油飯), I am reminded of joyful and festive occasions. Youfan is a dish that is traditionally served as a celebration when there is a newborn in the family. Nowadays, it’s served often whenever there is a family gathering. Even though the basic ingredients between youfan and zhong-zi is very similar but youfan is a lot easier to make and can satisfy my craving for savory glutinous rice quickly. Just like American families have our own recipes for pot roast or chili, different parts of Taiwan have different recipes and styles for their sticky rice.
Unlike fried rice where all the ingredients and the rice is stir fried together, youfan requires stir frying the ingredients first and then stirring in the rice afterwards. This allows the flavors to mix into the rice without the rice turning into a sticky lump. The basic sticky rice requires these ingredients:
- Glutinous Rice – Taiwanese prefer long grain glutinous rice which keeps it’s shape better and prevents overcooking. It’s hard to find long grain glutinous rice in America so I opt for the Japanese short grain glutinous rice – just need to be more careful in cooking so it doesn’t become mush
- Sesame oil – black sesame oil would be ideal because it brings out strong flavors – but regular sesame oil works as well. Do not use light sesame oil as the flavor is not strong enough and would require a lot of oil which would make the dish too greasy.
- Protein – pork is usually the way to go because it has a milder flavor than beef. I’ve never had this dish with any other meat than pork but it might be worth experimenting in the future. As for pork, it can come in various forms and cuts. Pork belly works well so does the tenderloin. Braised pork (see recipe) is also an excellent choice. Ground pork can be a quick substitute as well. Others like to use Chinese sausages which gives it another layer of flavor. Me, however, I like mine with pork belly.
- umami ingredients – these ingredients help bring out the 『umami’ in the dish. They include dried shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, dried scallops, dried squid, or bonito flakes.
- Sauce – regular soy sauce, condensed or thick soy sauce, oyster sauce can be used to add more flavor to the dish
The key about making good sticky rice is the rice vs the water portion. Too much water and your rice becomes like oatmeal. Too little water and your rice doesn’t cook through and has a hard uncooked center. I personally rather go under than over so the way I resolve it is to allow the rice to soak for 30min to 1 hour before cooking. This allows the rice to absorb the water and cook without needing a lot of water. If you don’t have a rice cooker at home with the sweet rice function, then I would suggest to use the golden ratio of 1 part rice and 0.6 part water. You will need to experiment a little bit to get the best results as each rice cooker is different. I haven’t tried this on the stovetop yet so I’m not sure how much water is required for stovetop cooking.
Ingredients for rice:
- 3 cups glutinous rice
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 ½ cups water
Ingredients for mix:
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- ½ cup sliced shallots
- 5-6 dried shiitake mushrooms reconstituted with water and sliced
- 8 oz of sliced pork tenderloin
- 1 tbsp dried shrimp soaked in water for 5 min and drained
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
Prepare the Rice
Wash and drain the rice and place in rice cooker. Add in oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, and water. Mix thoroughly and allow rice to soak for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. You can see that the water barely covers the rice before soaking. After soaking, some of the rice have come above water surface. Cook the rice with the sweet rice mode. My rice cooker took about 30 minutes. Before cooking the rest of the ingredients, I would wait until the rice is almost done so that it can be mixed in as soon as the other items are cooked.
Prepare the mix
Heat sesame oil in a large saute pan and brown the shallots. Throw in the rest of the ingredients and cook on medium high heat until pork is thoroughly cooked.
Mix the Rice
The rice should be done cooking by the time you finish cooking the mix. Set the stove on low heat and pour the rice into the saute pan and use a large wooden spoon to mix the rice with a folding motion. Be gentle so you don’t cut the rice kernels. I don’t recommend using a spatula because you need something sturdy and rigid in order to successfully fold the rice and the mix.
Serving Suggestions
Since this dish is a stand-alone, you can serve it by itself. Some like a pinch of cilantro on top. I prefer adding either a sweet chili sauce or thick soy sauce. If you want an extra kick, you can always add sriracha!
- 3 cups glutinous rice
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- ½ cup sliced shallots
- 5-6 dried shiitake mushrooms reconstituted with water and sliced
- 8 oz of sliced pork tenderloin
- 1 tbsp dried shrimp soaked in water for 5 min and drained
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- Wash and drain the rice and place in rice cooker.
- Mix in oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, and water.
- Allow rice to soak for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Cook the rice with the sweet rice mode.
- Heat sesame oil in a large saute pan and brown the shallots.
- Throw in the rest of the ingredients and cook on medium high heat until pork is thoroughly cooked.
- Set the stove on low heat and pour the rice into the saute pan and use a large wooden spoon to gently mix the rice with a folding motion.
Thanks for sharing this great recipe.
Hi.. how much is 1 cup of rice please?
1 cup of rice cooker measuring cup is about 3/4 US cups. As long as the cup of water and rice ratio remains the same, then you can use either type of cups.
This is a great recipe. I like softer rice, so I used a little bit more water (0.6 cup of water vs. 1 cup of rice) and the texture still turned out great. The taste is very authentic. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoy the recipe! ~Mike
Can I use real shrimp in this receipt?
Dried shrimp provides a briny umami that regular shrimp cannot. If you don’t have dried shrimp, can try to use dried scallops or dried squid as a substitute. ~Mike
Has anyone tried steaming the rice in the Instant Pot? My rice cooker does not have the ‘sweet’ rice function
I haven’t had too much success with cooking rice in an instant pot. Usually sticks at the bottom. I’ve seen people recommend 2 min high and natural release and also seen 15 min low and natural release. But if you have a rice cooker, just use the regular white rice mode is fine. ~Mike
Just made this for Thanksgiving. Amazing! I’ve been trying for years to recreate my mom’s and this was it. Hands down the best recipe and the taste is so authentic. Cooking the rice in the rice cooker made all the difference and it was so much easier. I omitted the shallots (personal preference) and substituted compressed seasoned tofu for the pork. It was delicious ❤️
Once you figure out the proper ratio for your rice cooker – this recipe is so simple. And I love your idea of using tofu as a vegetarian alternative. ~Mike
Is this 3 Tatung rice cooker cups or 3 standard cups? Thanks so much for sharing. So excited to try this!
Good question – it’s the rice cooker cups. But you can use either cups as long as the water and rice is using the same measurement. ~Mike
Hi Mike! I searched for youfan and your recipe came out first! Donno if you remember me but we met at Uncle Frank Lee’s house many times in the past haha. Thank you for the recipe. Gonna try it tomorrow! Will let you know how it tastes. ^_^
Hope it turns out well! I’ve not made this in a long time since we are trying to go low-carb 😉 ~Mike
This recipe is GREAT! Reminds me of what I ate growing up. It was a little trial and error to cook the sweet rice in my Tatung rice cooker; I’ll have to experiment with the exact amount of water to add in the future. Added Chinese sausage to the pork and a clove of garlic; next time I’d probably cook more shallots and cut the white pepper down a little, but this is definitely a keeper!
Yeah, it’s always a trial and error until you get the right texture. Some people prefer softer mushy texture while others like me prefer to see individual grains of rice. Glad you enjoyed the recipe! ~Mike
WOW…awesome recipe. I just finished making it and it is perfect. I omitted the shrimp because of a personal taste preference. I cannot stand them! Anyway, the dish is fantastic without them. Thank you so much for sharing.
Glad it worked out for you! This is one of my favorite recipes as well 🙂 -Mike
Awesome recipe and I love how simple it was compared to the traditional technique of stir frying the raw rice before the actual cooking! My rice cooker didn’t have a sweet rice setting, so I just added a tad bit more water and the texture was perfect. I also halved the recipe since I was just making it for 2 and it worked out great! Definitely will be making this again.
thank you for the comment. I’m glad it worked out for you!
Excellent recipe! Texture and flavored came out perfectly. I made add some salted radish next time because I think that’s what my mom did. ??
Thanks for the comment. Salted radish is a great idea!
I tried your recipe for the new year and it turned out scrumptious! Thank you so much for sharing. Will definitely cook this again! I used Chinese sausages my first try but didn’t care too much for the texture, will use pork or chicken next time! Xin nian kuai le!
Thank you for your kind words. Depending on if you like your rice softer or firmer, you can adjust the water content. As for the fillings, Chinese sausage is another common method. If you are using Chinese sausage, I would actually cook the sausage with the rice or else it might be a little bit too tough. I personally prefer pork, especially pork belly 🙂
-mike
I love the use of a rice cooker to make this dish. So delicious!
This is awesome! It’s not hard to follow 🙂 I’ll definitely try this out tonight!
Good luck! Let us know if you have any questions!
I tried your recipe. It was great. We will try this recipe again.
Thank you! It’s always encouraging to hear other people trying out our recipes. We appreciate your comment and if you have any recipe requests, do let us know!
-mike