Umami Instant Pot Sticky Rice

Why I developed by own version of umami instant pot sticky rice.  As a child growing up in small town Iowa, it was a big deal when a Chinese restaurant opened. My mom, brother, sister and I would have a special day when we would go treat ourselves, usually on Saturday. My favorites were General TSO’s Chicken or Sweet and Sour Chicken with their amazing sticky rice. Since getting married my husband and I would try a few of the freezer brands of Chinese meals.  However, the freezer meals always seemed to lack flavor and quantity of meat.

Last year I set out to cook Chinese at home, now looking back regret that I didn’t do it sooner. I have found a great recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken {Baked} – Mel’s Kitchen Cafe .  The recipe uses apple cider vinegar in place of pineapple, and the oven allows the flavors to develop into that perfect sweet and sour juxtaposition. I also found a great recipe for Honey Sesame Chicken – Rasa Malaysia.  However, I had yet to make my own sticky rice.

Why make your own sticky rice

The hardest part has been trying to find good sticky rice to serve with the dish. I have a frozen brand that I like, but I can’t always find it at the store and can be a bit expensive. So, I set out to try to figure out how to buy my own sweet rice and make sticky rice at home. Some recipes suggested using a strainer basket over a pot of boiling water.  However, this method never seemed to get to that point of ultimate stickiness. Some of the sites had a good amount of information, but it was information overload on what was the right amount of time to soak the rice and could range from 4 hours to overnight. So, I decided to figure out how to make it in my Insta Pot, several sites I had researched had an overwhelming array of information that didn’t get me to the desired end point. So, after several iterations of stove top and Insta Pot I have found what I believe is the ultimate sticky rice recipe and affordable at 50 cents per serving.

Salt:  

The key to making this sticky rice taste awesome giving it that gently sweet flavor is the salt.  Don’t omit the salt.  Salt enhances the sweet flavors of the rice, without it the rice is bland.