Nyob Zoo All and Happy AAPI month!
I wanted to share with you one of my childhood snacks: Rice sausage or what we like to call it in Hmong Leeg, Mov Nyuv. Yes! It’s basically a type of sausage that’s filled with sticky rice. I had the best memories of my grandparents making these for us every year so I asked my grandma to show us how to make it. Rice sausage is definitely an acquired taste because some people may not like the taste and smell of pork casing. However, if you are familiar with the flavor, you may enjoy it. This is also something that I don’t get to eat often because it is one of those dishes that requires quite a bit of labor. So if you are fortunate enough to have someone make it for you or know of a place that makes it, you are blessed 🙂 Today, I wanted to show you my grandma’s very old school recipe. If you do get the chance to get these ingredients, I hope you can give this recipe a try. Happy Cooking.
Main Ingredients
Pork Casing: Fresh or Store Bought
W/ fresh casing: My grandma has always used fresh pork casing (fresh meaning FRESH from a butcher pig the day of). It gets thoroughly cleaned inside and out. Then you tie a string on one end to seal it and then on the other end you blow air to give the sausage airspace to get completely dried before filling. Tie the other end.
It would then be put onto a string and placed somewhere to dry it out. Drying the casing gives it more flavor and also gives the casing a stronger exterior when it’s steamed. Drying also helps reduce that strong casing odor since it’s fresh. Because it’s dried, it’s also easier for the rice to be filled. Depending on the weather, drying may take around 3-4 days. Drying the casing is optional but highly recommended for better structure & flavor (especially for fresh casings). 
W/ store bought casing: Store bought casing works too but it depends what brand and size you buy. They aren’t as flavorful and strong as the fresh one but it will work for what it is. The only problem I have with store bought casing is they will sometimes create rice sausage explosions because the exterior is not strong enough. I highly recommend asking your butcher to see if you can check the quality of it before purchasing it. Store bought casings are also usually bleached and heavily salted as a way to preserve it. So it’s best to wash them very well and soak it in water to make it easier to work with. For store bought casings, you do not have to blow air and dried them. Use as is, but make sure to rinse it a few times (inside and out) and soak it in water for easier usage. Most store bought casing will have directions on how to properly clean and use them, so refer to that.
This is the store bought casing I bought. 
Soak in warm water for easier use
Things to note when using store bought casing:
- DO NOT OVERFILL WITH RICE: Keep it loose like the picture shown below. The one on the left is made with the fresh casing vs the one on the right is the store bought one. You can tell how loosely filled the right one is. We want to under-fill because the rice will expand as it steam. The casing also shrinks while the rice expand. So if you do end up filling it too much, you will have bursting rice sausage.
- When you finish filling it with rice, you don’t need to tie it. Keep it open so that when you steam it, there’s some airspace for steam to escape. This will help reduce your chances of bursting rice sausage.
- Store bought casing can be inconsistent in size, so adjust the amount of rice you put in to the size of the casing.
Filling/Steaming
Once the casings have dried, cut one end off to release the air and place it into a bowl filled with warm water to rinse and hydrate it back up.
Ingredients for the rice filling: Short grain sticky rice (Apple brand is my grandma’s favorite), ginger, salt, and oil.
Use short grain “STICKY” rice for the best results. Short grain is sweeter and a little more stickier to use. You can use long grain sticky rice but it will have a different flavor and texture. Regular rice will not work for rice sausage. It has to be sticky rice. 
Minced ginger adds some flavor and helps reduce any unwanted odor from the casing. 
Making the seasoned ginger water to soak the rice in 
My grandma uses a tip of a (what seems like) a sausage funnel. You can cut off the top of a bottle and use that to fill the casing. 
Fill the casing with the rice and some of the seasoned ginger water
One filled, steam for 25-30 minutes or until the rice is cooked all the way through. 
DO NOT OVERFILL. Keep the sausage somewhat loose to give room for the rice to expand. If you do overfill it, the sausage will burst when it steams like shown below. It will happen since casings are unpredictable. There may be cases where the casing may either have a hole in it already or it’s just too thin to work with.
Serve while it’s still warm. You can enjoy it as is or eat it with your favorite protein.
Enjoy!
-Cindy Her (C.HerCreations)
Rice Sausage (Mov Nyuv)
Equipment
- Steamer
- Strings
Ingredients
- 10 lbs short grain sweet sticky rice (Apple Brand)
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup salt
- 1/2 cup minced ginger
- 24 cups water (6 quarts)
- Sausage casing
Instructions
Preparing the rice
- Pour the rice into a bowl and rinse twice. Add hot tap water to fill with about 2 inch overhead. Let the rice soak for about 1 hr. After 1 hr, drain the water.
- In a big pot, add in 6 quarts of water, vegetable oil, salt, and minced ginger. Bring to a gentle simmer until the salt dissolves. You don’t need to bring it to a boil. Turn off heat and transfer the seasoned water straight into the rice and let it soak for about 30 minutes while you prep the casing.
Working with fresh sausage casing
- My grandma has always used fresh pork casing (fresh meaning FRESH from a butcher pig the day of). It gets thoroughly cleaned inside and out. Then you tie a string on one end to seal it and then on the other end you blow air to give the sausage airspace to get completely dried before filling. Tie the other end. It would then be put onto a string and placed somewhere to dry it out. Drying the casing gives it more flavor and also gives the casing a stronger exterior when it's steamed. Depending on the weather, drying may take around 3-4 days. Drying the casing is optional but highly recommended for better structure & flavor.
- Once the casings have dried, cut one end off to release the air and place it into a bowl filled with warm water to rinse and hydrate it back up.
Working with store bought casing
- Store bought casing works too but it depends what brand and size you buy. They aren't as flavorful and strong as the fresh one but it will work for what it is. The only problem I have with store bought casing is they will sometimes create rice sausage explosions because the exterior is not strong enough. I highly recommend asking your butcher to see if you can check the quality of it before purchasing it. Store bought casings are also usually bleached and heavily salted as a way to preserve it. So it's best to wash them very well and soak it in water to make it easier to work with. You will also need to UNDER-FILL it as much as you can with the rice. Do not overfill or else you will have bursting rice sausage.
Filling & Steaming
- With a funnel or in our case (the half top of a water bottle), place the end part into the open part of the casing. Fill with the rice and add in the seasoned water to help the rice get evenly distributed into the casing. You want the casing to be filled with all rice and lightly filled with the seasoned water. DO NOT OVERFILL and keep the sausage somewhat loose to give room for the rice to expand. If you do overfill it, the sausage will burst when it steams. Once filled, drain a little of the ginger water and then seal the open part with a string. Gently place it into a steamer and cook for about 20-30 minutes on medium or until the rice is tender. Cool before slicing and enjoying. You can store it in the fridge and microwave or steam it when you want to eat it again.
