A quick and comforting Fujian-style savory rice made in a rice cooker with pork belly, dried shiitake mushrooms, carrots, dried shrimp, and crispy shallot oil. The rice is fragrant, savory, and rich without being too heavy.

Savory rice, or xián fàn (咸饭), is everyday home cooking in Fujian and across the Minnan-speaking region — a one-pot meal where rice cooks together with pork, mushrooms, and whatever vegetables are on hand, so the grains absorb all the flavors as they cook. Unlike Taiwanese oil rice (油饭), which uses glutinous rice and is often reserved for celebrations, savory rice is made with regular long-grain rice and eaten as an ordinary, deeply comforting weeknight dinner.

Two things define the Minnan version. The first is the mushroom soaking liquid, saved and used as part of the cooking water so none of the dried shiitake’s umami is wasted. The second is shallot oil: shallots fried slowly in rendered pork fat until golden, then stirred through at the end. This recipe adapts the traditional stovetop method to a rice cooker, which makes the water level easy to control and the result reliably fluffy rather than soggy.

💡 Tips

Do not skip the shallot oil — it makes the whole dish significantly more fragrant. If you don’t have shallots, half a small sweet onion works too.

Some versions add cabbage, but it releases water and makes the rice texture harder to control. You can also add taro to make taro savory rice, or dried oysters for a more traditional version.

Why Stir-Fry the Rice Before It Goes Into the Cooker?

Frying the raw grains with the pork and aromatics coats each grain in a thin layer of seasoned fat and drives off surface moisture. Like a pilaf, this helps the finished grains stay separate and distinct instead of clumping, and it gives the rice a lightly toasted, fragrant base note. You will know it is ready when the grains turn slightly translucent at the edges and crackle softly in the pan.

Why Make the Shallot Oil Separately?

Shallots need gentle, unhurried frying in fat to turn sweet and golden without burning, and that is hard to manage in the middle of a busy stir-fry. Cooking the shallot oil on its own gives you full control over the color — and since the shallots keep darkening after they leave the pan, pulling them slightly early matters. Stirring the oil through at the very end, rather than cooking it into the rice, also keeps its aroma bright and unmistakably on top of the dish.

Ingredients

• 2 cups rice, rinsed and drained
• Pork belly, sliced (separate the fattier pieces from the leaner pieces)
• 4–6 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 carrot, diced
• A small handful of dried shrimp, optional
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 10ml soy sauce
• 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
• Salt, to taste
• Water, for cooking the rice
• A little neutral oil, if needed

Instructions

1. Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in warm water until softened, then dice them. Reserve the soaking liquid. Dice the carrot. Rinse the rice and drain well. Slice the pork belly, keeping the fattier and leaner pieces separate.
2. Add the fattier pork belly pieces to a pan over medium-low heat and cook until the fat renders out. Turn the heat up, add the lean pieces, and stir-fry until lightly browned.
3. Add the diced shiitake mushrooms, carrot, and dried shrimp. Stir-fry until fragrant. Drizzle soy sauce and Shaoxing wine around the edge of the pan. Add salt and stir to combine.
4. Add the drained rice and stir-fry until the moisture has mostly evaporated — you should hear the grains lightly crackling.
5. Transfer everything to a rice cooker. Pour in the reserved mushroom soaking liquid, then add enough water so the level sits about 2mm above the surface of the rice. Do not add too much or the rice will turn mushy. Cook on the regular rice setting.
6. While the rice cooks, add the remaining fatty pork pieces to a small pan over medium-low heat. Once the fat renders and lightly coats the pan, add the sliced shallot and fry over low heat until golden. Remove immediately — they will continue to darken after leaving the oil. This is the shallot oil, the key flavor of the dish.
7. When the rice is done, fluff and mix in the shallot oil. Serve warm.

Serving Suggestions

Serve the rice hot, straight from the cooker, with something fresh or pickled alongside to cut the richness — blanched greens, a cucumber salad, or pickled mustard greens all work well. A drizzle of chili oil is a common finishing touch. Leftovers keep well and reheat beautifully; for a second-day treat, fry cold rice in a hot pan until the bottom grains crisp.

Flavor Profile

Porky, savory, and fragrant, with shallot oil over everything.

The rice itself is rich from the rendered pork fat and deeply savory from shiitake and dried shrimp, while the carrot adds small pockets of sweetness. Nothing is heavy or greasy, though — the grains stay separate and light. The final spoonful of shallot oil is what lingers: sweet, toasty, and unmistakably Minnan.