Fan Choy (饭菜 in Cantonese) is what I call the ‘dim sum version’ of the char siew rice which is affordably priced (small portion though) and readily available at those stalls selling dim sum and steamed buns at hawker centres or coffeeshops.
For my recipe, I chose to use brown rice (it’s healthier than white!) and to save time and hassle, I bought ready made char siew for this. If you would like to make your own char siew, check out this Oven Roasted Honey-Glazed Char Siew Recipe that I’ve shared a long while back. One good reason for making our own fan choy is that we can add in more ingredients and make it more substantial unlike the ones from outside that usually come with mostly rice and a miserable portion of meat and egg. Enjoy this recipe!
Fan Choy Recipe
Ingredients (serves 4)
400g brown rice, steamed with 500ml water
250g char siew, sliced
2-3 hardboiled eggs, halved
chopped spring onions as garnish
Seasoning:
100ml boiling water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chicken seasoning powder
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp char siew sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
dash of white pepper
Instructions
1. Combine all the ingredients for the seasoning and then mix thoroughly with the cooked brown rice. Set aside.
2. Using either small porcelain bowls or foil moulds, arrange the egg and char siew on the bottom of the bowls or moulds and fill up with the rice.
3. Steam at medium high heat for 10 minutes.
4. Overturn each bowl or mould onto a serving plate. Garnish the fan choy with spring onions and serve hot.
Hi
I am a great lover of China cooking. Fell totally in love with it when I travelled through China some years ago. I am sure this dish tastes as good as it looks.
Thanks for sharing !
Oli
May I ask need to soak the brown rice. Also steam the brown rice for how long? thanks.
No need to soak. Just cook the brown rice as per normal in the rice cooker will do.
thanks for this simple recipe.
Hope you like this fan choy 🙂
May I ask if no char siew sauce what can i do to substitute. Thanks.
You can try substituting with 1 extra tablespoon of oyster sauce and 1 tablespoon of honey to give it that added sweetness to balance out the flavours.
thanks so much for this.
no problem 🙂 let me know how it goes!
If I use white rice instead of brown rice the water remains the same? Thks
I actually reduced the water as I didn’t want my rice to be too soggy so you might want to do the same too as white rice gets stodgy easier than brown rice. If you’re using rice cooker, just go slightly below the bar.