Saturday July 29, 1995

Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango

At least it was a secret for me for a long time. Until Bill - Hi Bill - asked me about it. Sticky rice! I guess this was enough push for me to find out. So I did and now I know, after making myself the guinea pig first, certainly, how to get the rice sticky.

First of all there is a special rice. Without that it will not work - promise. So if you really want to do it, you need a Thai or Chinese market that has it. It's called sticky rice, or something like that but to the same effect.

The whole process has to be planned a bit, because it starts with soaking the rice in water over night. Use two cups of rice (as a beginner) and cover it with water, just a bit over the top. Doesn't really matter how much water as long as it's all covered.

Then the next day the cooking. The principle is that the rice does NOT cook in water but in steam. To accomplish that, the best would be to use a steamer pot, you know one of these contraptions where you have some water boiling on the bottom and you cook your goods on inserts that stand on little feet above the water. You can improvise these 'machines' with a normal pot and a vegetable steamer inset.

OK, the water is happily boiling in the basement. You now take a piece of white sheer fabric and spread it in the steamer inset. Into this you give the rice from which you drained the water it soaked in first.

This inset with the fabric and the rice then goes into the steamer and the whole thing is covered with the lid. After joyful steaming of about fifteen minutes the rice should be ready, and - yes - sticky!

Try a bit and if it's soft turn off the heat, otherwise give it another five minutes. Then it will be good for sure.

You don't have to stand in front of the steamer all the time and watch it. Would not work because the old saying is that watched water never boils. Data proved this to be wrong but what does he know, an android! Anyway, to save time, you can start with the coconut milk while the rice cooks.

The coconut milk needs to be cooked with some sugar added. Don't forget a bit of salt too. Make the taste sweet, but not overly so. Hopefully the rice is done now. You spread it out in a flat container or big plate and pour the coconut milk over it. Not too much to make it watery but give it a good soak.

Last step is to give the rice with the coconut milk a good whirl and then cover it and let it sit for ten to fifteen minutes so that the rice slurps up all the milk.

Serve it with sliced mango and optionally sprinkle some sesame seed over it. Just one word of caution: this stuff is dangerous. It's very hard to stop eating once you have really started, especially if you get sweet and juicy mango.

Happy surviving!

Ingredient List: Sticky rice (sometimes called sweet rice) from the oriental market, coconut milk, sugar, salt, ripe mango, sesame seeds.