This rice cooker chicken and shiitake meal is a true staple in Cantonese households. We refer to this type of dish as “yau mei faan” (有味飯) which translates loosely into “rice with flavour” and can really be any rice to which other ingredients are added and cooked together in the rice cooker (or pot) for an easy dinner. Chinese sausages AKA “lap cheong” (臘腸 – see note 1) are fairly ubiquitous in this type of dish and add a distinctive flavour and richness that is hard to mimic with anything else. That said, if you don’t have access to lap cheong, omit it. The rice gets finished with a lip-smacking savoury sauce at the end so you won’t be missing out on flavour!Related: Getting To Know Lap Cheong (Chinese Dried Sausage)Note 1: “Lap Cheong” (臘腸) is the Cantonese term for a broad category of sausages ranging from fresh to dry-cured to smoked, from pork to chicken to duck liver, etc. The Cantonese version I grew up eating is usually pork (and pork fat) ones that are savoury and sweet, dense and chewy. They are brownish-pink with white marbling throughout from the fat. The sugar and fat in them lend so much rich flavour to dishes. Lap cheong are typically sold in shrink-wrapped packages in the refrigerated section at Chinese grocery stores. If you can’t find them, omit it from this recipe. The finishing sauce adds loads of flavour at the end.Note 2: If you don’t have a rice cooker, you can cook it on the stove top using either a clay pot or Dutch oven. The amount of measured water for the rice remains the same i.e. 1-to-1 ratio jasmine grains to water but the cooking time differs slightly. For stove top cooking, place washed/drained rice and measured water into the clay pot or Dutch oven. Turn heat to medium-high and cook covered until steaming stage (at around 7 minutes). Remove the lid. There should still be some water on top of the rice and it should be simmering. Add par-cooked chicken mixture, cover, turn heat down to lowest setting and continue to cook a further 20-25 minutes or when rice is fully cooked and chicken mixture is hot. Remove from heat. Fluff and mix with finishing sauce. Serve with reserved scallion greens.