Lo Mai Gai
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Lo Mai Gai
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Lo Mai Gai (Simplified Chinese: 糯米鸡; Traditional Chinese: 糯米雞; Pinyin: Nuòmǐ jī; Cantonese: lo mai gai) is a Cantonese dim sum parcel of glutinous rice and seasoned chicken—often with dried shiitake, Chinese sausage (lap cheong), and dried shrimp—wrapped in a dried lotus leaf and steamed. The leaf lends a herbal aroma that defines the plate when diners unwrap it at the yum cha table. It is a core filling item in Dim Sum culture across Guangdong and Hong Kong Food.[1]
Characteristics
Rice is sticky and savory rather than sweet festival zongzi-sweet; chicken and cured meats enrich the center; mushrooms add chew and soy depth. After steaming, the bundle is soft and aromatic; service is to open the leaf on the plate so steam and fragrance release together. Portions are larger and more meal-like than delicate dumpling bites such as Har Gow or Siu Mai.
A smaller related wrap is often called pearl chicken (珍珠鸡, Cantonese jan jyu gai) in dim-sum menus—same sticky-rice-and-leaf family, scaled down—so the names should not be collapsed into one identical SKU.[1]
Ingredients (overview)
Encyclopedic overview only: glutinous rice; chicken; dried shiitake; Chinese sausage or other cured meat; dried shrimp; seasonings; dried lotus leaf. Teahouse fillings vary. No recipe steps here.
History and culture
Lotus-leaf sticky rice belongs to the wider southern Chinese practice of wrapping grains in aromatic leaves for steaming and travel. In modern yum cha, Lo Mai Gai settled as a teahouse staple beside roast and dumpling carts: a heartier order for sharing tables that want something more substantial than a single dumpling steamer.[1]
Within Cantonese restaurant grammar it partners Char Siu Bao, Phoenix Claws, and other cart classics without replacing them. Diaspora dim-sum houses keep the leaf wrap as visual shorthand for Hong Kong–Guangdong brunch even when fillings are adapted.
Do not confuse with plain sticky-rice zongzi (festival pyramid dumplings) that lack the chicken-and-lotus yum-cha framing, or with Char Siu Bao, which is a yeast bao filled with barbecue pork.
Serving and variations
Unwrapped at the table during yum cha; sometimes cut for sharing. Home and banquet versions may enlarge the parcel or change sausage-to-chicken ratios. See Dim Sum and Hong Kong Food.