Steamed rice in lotus leaves

If a lotus plant (water lily) is given to us (Southern Chinese), we'd just eat the whole thing up - seed in dessert, root in soup, dried flower in meat, stem in salad, embryos and stamens for medicine, leaf for flavoring... The seed and root I used to eat a lot although I didn't find them have any taste. The leaves are a different story though. Dim sum chefs use them to wrap the rice for steaming as the leaves give out a fantastic dark tea-alike aroma and color to the grains. In old time people stuffed in a lot of ingredients -- rice, a chunk of chicken (usually bone-in), fatty pork, dried shrimp, mushroom, bamboo shoot and sometime an egg; it filled people up getting ready for a long day of (labor) work. But nowaday, probably due to the diet trend, or we no longer getting hungry easily (coffee and donut break at 10:30 you know...), this dish from the size of Big Mac (times 2) slims down to an egg's. Presentation has changed, but the classic and enveloping aroma is timeless. Hongkong Chinese mostly use glutinous rice (sticky and waxy in texture) for making this dish, but I tried another popular long-grain, Jasmine rice (firm and fluffy) which also gave me a very satisfactory result. Whichever grain you prefer, you should adjust the time in soaking and steaming. The following recipe is just a basic and contains no meat as I aim to a light side dish. Please feel free to add anything to your liking.

Ingredients (for 2 persons as side dish):

• 1 to 2 whole dried lotus leaves (sold at Asian store, less than US$6 for one pound (16oz) pack, about 15 pieces)
• 1 cup (I used small coffee cup) of Jasmine rice
• some scallops, fresh or dried (for dried one soak overnight)
• some mushroom, fresh or dried (for dried one soak overnight)
• 1 sprig of spring onion (white), cut into 4 pieces
• 3/4 teaspoon chicken powder
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• few dash of sesame oil
• a pinch of salt

Directions

1. Bring a big pot of water to boil, add lotus leaves and let they soften. Drained, cut into 4 pieces (each size not bigger than 10 x 7 inches or 24cm x 17cm)
2. In a medium pot, bring the water to boil. Turn off the heat. Add the rice and make sure the water has to be above the rice 3 cm at least. Soak for half day.
3. Drain the rice. In a big bowl, mix with the rice with chicken powder, oil, sesame oil, and salt. Scoop some rice onto a piece of leaf, lay in scallop, mushroom and a piece of spring onion, scoop more rice to cover. Wrap up the leaf, you're aiming for a square shape. You don't need to tight up the stuffed leaves, just turn the seam side down laying on a steamer.
4. After the water boils, steam the rice for about 25 minutes over medium heat, depending on the amount of rice.
5. Serve hot, goes with any seafood and meat dish.

I am going to send this post to my favorite weekly event Weekend Herb Blogging found by our lovely Kalyn. This week she hands the baton all the way to Milan as Piperita is the guest hostess. See you guys at the recap!