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Mango Sticky Rice Recipe

a close up of a plate of food

Last week, I posted a recipe about skipping the sugar at breakfast and trying a savoury rice soup Thai style breakfast instead.  This week, I’m going to throw all that out the window and give you a recipe from my time in Thailand that is deliciously sweetened that I have been known to eat for breakfast even, it’s so good.

Fresh Mango with pandan sticky rice

  • 1 cup glutinous rice (soaked for 4 hours or overnight), rinsed
  • 2 ripe mangos, peel and slice
  • 1 bunch fresh pandan leaves
  • 3 tbsp palm sugar (use brown sugar if you can’t find palm)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1.5 cup coconut milk
  • 1 tsp sesame seeds & shreaded fresh coconut

Salty Cream Topping:

  • 1 tsp flour
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Sticky rice in Thailand is steamed not boiled, it’s hard to find a bamboo steam in Vancouver though so if you don’t have a rice steamer then just cook it according to the instructions on the package in a rice cooker.  For steamed rice; put steamer on medium heat and cook for 20-30 minutes flipping the rice halfway through (try not to stir as it will break up the rice, just toss it in the steamer).

To make the salty cream:  Boil the salt and coconut milk, mix the flour in with a tbs of the coconut to make into a liquid paste before combining with the boiling mixture (to avoid lumps).

Pandan mixture:  Add fresh pandan to your blender with 1/2 cup water and blend for 5 minutes, strain through a fine mesh sieve to collect the bright green juice.

Boil coconut milk on low, add salt and sugar and boil till dissolved (5 min).  Take off the heat and add 2 tbs pandan juice.

Transfer sticky rice to a bowl and mix in the pandan mixture lightly.  Serve with mango and top with salty cream and optional sesame seeds and fresh coconut shavings.

Note: If you have extra pandan juice, add it to tea, a cocktail or a smoothie, it’s super yummy.

How to choose a ripe mango.

This is harder than you’d think.  The colour of a mango doesn’t always tell you if it’s ripe, it depends on the variety of mango, most of them become ripe when they start to turn yellow.  Generally, mango season is April till July though there are a few varieties that ripen in our winter (Kent mangos).  A ripe mango should be slightly soft like a ripe avocado and smell the stem for a fruity smell.  Ataulfo mangos from Mexico have a wrinkly skin when ripe and are bright yellow.  Hope that helps.

-Chef Robin