Mangos and Rice: Caught in a Sticky Situation

It’s been some time since I made this recipe.  So when I asked a co-worker recently what her food fancy by ethnicity was, Thai was her answer.  And I was immediately drawn back to this recipe and started formulating this blog in my head.

There used to be this place in Victoria that offered cooking classes. I went on a spree of cooking classes for a while, wanting to sign up and take almost every class available.   And it was an easy gift for my parents to gift me.  But it can often be hard to find the time to do all the things you want when you work full time, have kids and are a military spouse where you find yourself carrying the load of the family for blocks of periods of time.  Throw in a global pandemic and before yo know it, years of social things like cooking classes are stolen from the life plans you had.  And then when you go to pick it up again, the place is no longer around so its not an option anymore.

On my drive home tonight I was thinking about all the classes I took. Truly Thai was the first cooking class I ever took and where this recipe comes from.  I took that class for a couple reasons:  (1)  I really wanted to take a class and (2),  I wanted to learn about curries, mostly because I don’t like them and I had heard that Thai Curry was completely different than Indian Curry so I felt like this was a great place to try and experiment with them and learn something new.  FYI – I still don’t like curry.

I don’t any longer recall the order in which I took the classes, but know that I followed up with a a pizza class, a sushi class, a Chinese food class, and then the infamous bread baking bootcamp. Yes, a bread class. And even after that class, I still don’t have the confidence with kneading dough, but as I said in a recent post, https://wcfoodie.com/to-the-loss-of-fear-and-loathing-of-baking-bread/,  I am not going to let bread get the best of me and soon I will get my hands back into yeast and flour.  And sorry Tia, for my constant barrage of bread reals from Instagram (you should see my algorithm these days!).

I feel like there may have been a few more classes, but right now they are escaping this  old and tired mind of mine.  

This recipe is absolutely delish, especially if served still warm (even though the recipe calls for it to be cooled).   It does take a bit of time to put together, but it is so worth it.  Its warm, and its sweet, and its sticky, and its just so mangoey good!  It’s a must try for sure! Whether for a Sunday family dinner or a dinner party desert, you wont go wrong with this choice. I hope you take the time to try it.

And on that note, I am off to look for more cooking classes to book!

Mangoes and Sticky Rice

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Course: Dessert

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 1/2 c Thai Sweet Rice
• 1 400 ml can good quality coconut milk (not light)
• 1 1/4 disks palm sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5-7 ripe mangoes

Method

 

The Rice

1. Place the rice in a bowl and cover with cold water. Swish with your hands to get rid of the extra rice. Drain well.
2. Place the rinsed rice back in the bowl and cover with fresh cold water. Soak for at least 4 hours at room temperature or refrigerate overnight.
3. Line the bottom of a steamer with several layers of cheesecloth. Place the rice in the steamer, spreading it out to an even thickness. Place the steamer in a wok or the top of a pan that has 2 inches of water in the bottom. The water should not be high enough to touch the rice. Place over high heat and bring water to a boil. Cover and reduce het to medium/medium-high heat to maintain a steady flow of steam.
4. Steam the rice for 35 to 45 minutes. Add water to the pot as required to prevent it from drying out. The rice is cooked when it swells, turns clear and shiny, and is sticky enough to be squeezed into lumps.

The Sauce

1. While the rice is steaming, open the can of coconut milk. empty contents into a small saucepan. Add the salt and the palm sugar. Cook, stirring over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside.

Rice Meets Sauce

1. Once the rice is cooked, remove it from the steamer and place in a large bowl, peeling off the cheesecloth, discarding cheesecloth. Pour the coconut mil mixture over the rice and stir to combine. Cover the rice and set aside until liquid is absorbed, about 40 minutes.

Rice Meets Mango

1. Once liquid is fully absorbed in the rice, spread the sweetened rice on serving plater. Smooth top of rice. Cool to room temperature.
2. Peel and slice or cube mangoes.
3. Cover the entire surface of the rice with the mangoes.
4. Serve.

Notes

Tips:

Steamer:  I don’t have a bamboo steamer, so I just use my 2 piece steamer pot.  

Rice:  Make sure when you buy your rice, it is “sweet” rice.  

Coconut milk:  When buying coconut milk, shake the can.  You want to buy the one that doesn’t sound like water/liquid – it should feel thick when you are shaking the can.  The can should feel like it is full to the brim. 

Mangoes:  Ataulo or Alphonso are my usual go to mangoes, but you can use Kent or Palmer, or whatever is in season and sold locally.  Slicing mangoes is a bit of an artform, so check out a video on how to slice a mango if your not familiar with it.