The Mesmerizing Way Steam Rice Rolls Are Made _ NYT Cooking

So you're pretty ambitious .

Yes .

When I first had the idea to open a restaurant to sell rice , my family and a lot of my friends said I'm crazy because this kind of food , they used to sell it in a place like a small dishes .

Nobody opened a restaurant to sell only this kind of food .

So when I was a kid , my mom walk me to the market .

So we had for breakfast every morning , I never found a rice that taste like my hometown taste .

So that's why I had the idea to start this kind of business .

12 days , not the restaurant that sell , they use the rice powder .

But us , we use the fresh rice .

We stock the rice for almost six hour .

So every day we need to stock up like £80 of rice for one store .

And then we use the grid to grin it .

There's a lot of machine that can grind the rice but it's all high speed .

So when the high speed grinding the rise , it heat up a little bit , it changes the texture of the rice itself .

So when you use the stone grinder , it don't heat up the rice , it , keep it in the right temperature .

So I import that from China .

We use the fresh rice butter to cook the rice on .

So it makes it like more healthier and fresher .

And then we steam the rice roll one minute and then it's ready to roll it up .

You don't feel I'm from Taison .

So I came here like 10 years ago when I first came here , I start like high school .

And then after I graduate , I tried a lot of job , I had an entertainment group before I host wedding .

I always want to start a business .

The rice idea is keep me like non stop thinking about it .

That's why I had a hard side to just drive back to China to learn how to make it even in China , all the rice .

So place they have their own recipe , they all taste the difference .

Are yours better ?

No , when I want to open this business , I had really high expectation for first three months .

Nobody know what it is .

So nobody want to give a try make the rice .

We always get fresh ingredients from local market day by day .

So we have pork , beef , shrimp and more veggie like scallion corn , lettuce and beans .

Are your parents here ?

My parents here , they have it every day .

My mom's always said the right now we have is already like perfect .

But for me , it's like 70% are perfect for me .

So I always try to improve the minimum rate .

Again .

In China , we used to serve with the rice bowl with only soy sauce and some chili oil .

But right now we have hoisin sauce and peanut sauce .

When the peanut salt go with the soy sauce , it tastes a lot different .

So business is not only like selling food , it's more like you need to treat a customer as a friend .

Respect them after when I get the business running .

So a lot of Cantonese people , they came here and they always bring a friend , not from Kang .

So they are always happy to tell them that this kind of food is like what we had in China .

My dream with those steam rel is not only bringing the rel to let more people know about it .

That's a lot too many great food in China that I want to introduce to people in New York City here .

Open a business really easy but keep the business running is the hottest part .

So just keep it up no matter when you lose money or anything happens .

So just keep the business running .

It took me a long time to like let more people know about it .

But right now we're working like taking small step by step .

Right now .

We have four locations .

When I think about rice , it make me feel , feel so like home that everybody facing the same problem .

So we just had to sit , sit tight and we cannot give up at this time .

So we have to like , just hope this go and go fast and then we can get back to normal life .

It's happier than before because I feel great working again .

I don't know how to describe it , but a lot of people they willing to come out to like just for supporting the local business when the pandemic is over , I can travel everywhere but I just miss my family so much .