Sticky Rice with Mango

It's traditional Thai treat. You might call it dessert, I call it divine breakfast. Give it a try, you won't regret. If you are mango or coconut addict like me, you just have to do it!

Blog's Category: International, Perfect Breakfast

Intro

Making Sticky Rice with Mango was on my "to try" list for a long time, I kept pushing it back over and over. Bag of sticky rice was on a rear of my fridge for a while also...

As most of all simple recipes, it satisfies you completely and then, you crave it again and again. Fresh mango tossed around coconut rice pudding - easy, but so-o-o-o good!

Glutinous (sticky) rice is not well known here, in US but it's widely popular in the Eastern parts of Asia where it's used mostly for sweets or breakfasts. When cooked, it is very sticky indeed.


What is it?

Sticky (glutinous) rice, cooked, then soaked with coconut milk and topped with mango, simple coconut cream sauce and sesame seeds.

Taste Description

Rice has just right amount of sweetness, tropical aroma of coconut and beautiful buttery-smooth texture.
In your spoon, this rice works together wonderfully with light saltiness of coconut cream sauce. This surprising combination strikes you first but then, supported with sweetness and flavor of mango, crunchiness and earthiness of sesame seeds, it "kills you softly" and makes you its fan forever.

How to Serve

Traditionally, it is served family style, simply, on a large serving plate, warm. I like to serve it though in an individual footed glasses, like ice cream, cold. Once, for a picnic with friends, I even served it in a short clear plastic cups; I made it night before and kept in a fridge overnight.

Sticky Rice with Mango

For about 8 servings:

• 2 cup glutinous rice
• 1 can coconut milk, unshaken!
• 1 c + 1 tbs sugar
• salt
• 1 ripe mango, peeled and sliced in a small bite sized pieces
• 3 tsb sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp corn starch

- Wash rice and leave it to soak in a cold water for about 1 hour. Cook rice in a rice cooker or steamer until completely cooked.

- Meanwhile, roast sesame seeds on a dry skillet, stirring all the time, until they puff up and have nice golden-tan tone. Set aside to cool down.

- Open coconut milk can without shaking it. Make Coconut Cream Sauce: using a spoon, take upper (about 1-2") layer of coconut milk into the small pot or skillet. Add corn starch, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Cook this sauce stirring on a medium heat just until it starts to boil. Set aside.

- In a small pot, cook remaining coconut milk with 1 cup of sugar and pinch of salt, on a medium heat, stirring, until it's hot but not boiling. When rice is cooked, add this sauce to the rice mixing it in lightly avoiding making rice too mushy.

- To serve, transfer rice onto a large plate, top with Coconut Cream Sauce and sesame seeds. Garnish with mango pieces. Serve warm or cold but, most importantly, ...enjoy!


Note

- To clarify, the recipe has two sauces. One is cooked from cream, gathered from the top of can of coconut milk. This sauce is used as topping. Other sauce is cooked from remaining coconut milk, it's sweeter than the first one, and is mixed into the cooked rice to make it sweet and coconutty.

- Sometimes, roasted yellow split mung beans are used in place of sesame seeds. I didn't try this way (just yet!) but will let you know as soon as I  try.

- I would be interested to try this recipe with our regular short or long grain rice, may be arborio rice.
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IN PICTURES

In appearance, glutinous rice is whiter than regular rice.

After washing and soaking, I cooked rice in my priceless Zojirushi rice cooker. But next time I'll cook it more traditional way by steaming. I'll see if it's any different.

Unshaken can of coconut milk has coconut cream as a top layer, which I will be using for topping - Coconut Cream Sauce.

I cooked Coconut Cream Sauce in a clean non-stick skillet. Significant amount of salt (comparably to sugar) makes this interesting sweet-and-salty sauce that contrasting awesomely with a sweet rice and mango.

Coconut Cream Sauce for topping is ready. Looks pretty...

Now let's make soaking sauce for rice using rest of the milk from a can.

This time sauce is sweet, it will infuse rice with nice coconutty sweetness.

There is an option in Zojirushi rice cooker to cook sticky (sweet) rice specifically.

Pouring coconut milk sauce into cooked rice...