THAI MANGO STICKY RICE
This classic Thai dessert is easy and can pair with just about any entree, but probably easier to make in the summer since it requires the most ripe and sweetest mangos available. This recipe calls for Thai sweet rice aka sticky rice aka glutinous rice. It can be found in your local asian food market or you might need to purchase it on amazon. Otherwise the recipe really just comes down to mangoes, rice, and sweet coconut sauce. Dried pandan leaves are optional to give the coconut sauce a more authentic flavor. It can be purchased at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Organic-dried-pandanus-leaves-Ceylon/dp/B082D87GZV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29FJQSJY4FXIT&dchild=1&keywords=pandanus+leaf&qid=1599608674&sprefix=pandanous+lea%2Caps%2C259&sr=8-1. This recipe is adapted from thespruceeats.com.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup of Thai sweet rice (glutinous rice aka sticky rice)
1.5 cups water
1 can of coconut milk (13.5 oz)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
4-5 tablespoons of brown sugar (to taste)
1-2 ripe mangoes
RECIPE
Find a medium pot. Soak the rice in 1 cup of room temperature water for 20-30 minutes. DO NOT DRAIN the rice!
Then add 1/2 cup more water, 1/2 can of coconut milk, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon brown sugar and stir.
Bring the pot to a gentle boil and partially cover with a lid to allow some room for the steam to escape. Then reduce heat to a gentle simmer.
Simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the coconut milk/water has been absorbed by the rice. Turn off heat and leave pot on burner with closed lid. Allow to sit 5-10 minutes.
Now we make the sauce. Warm up the remaining coconut milk with medium/low heat. Add 3 tablespoons of brown sugar or more to your desired sweetness. Optional - add a few dried pandas leaves to the sauce and let simmer. Then remove leaves once sauce is ready.
Cut the mangoes into small bite sized strips or cubes
For plating, I recommend using a small bowl/ramekin to get a perfect dome shape for the rice. Then arrange the cut mango slices around the rice like a wreath. Then pour the coconut sauce on top and enjoy!
I also recommend adding some toasted sesame seeds and mint leaves for those extra presentation and taste points!
CONCLUSION
This dish heavily depends on the ripeness of the mangoes. It simply does not taste great if you only have tart/sour mangoes. The sweeter the better!!! I recommend the small yellow mangoes since they tend to be sweeter. But red mangoes also work if given enough time to ripen and turn almost completely dark yellow/orange. You can toast sesame seeds simply by tossing them in a warm skillet for a few minutes until you see some light browning. Another bougie garnish for this dish would be edible flowers (available at Whole Foods). The number of aprons we decided to give this recipe is....
8.5/10