Sweet, salty and creamy goodness. It is a classic combination of beautifully cooked sticky rice/ glutinous rice and perfectly seasoned creamy coconut milk and serve with sweet asian mangoes. It is very popular dish in most asian countries, but thai cuisine has a very elevated way of making it, and no wonder foodies like me visits Thailand and never forget to try the most popular dessert in the country Khao Neaw Ma-Muang, delicious and super satisfying little dessert.
There are few modern take of this classic flavour combination all over Thailand, one place in Chiang Mai I have tried the sticky rice served with mango ice cream and drizzle of coconut milk, topped with popped rice. It was super yum! In Bangkok, there was a restaurant that they serve this dish as roll, they used ground sticky and made this very light rice fluff served with mango sorbet and of course drizzled with coconut milk, I can still remember that awe reaction i had when i had my first mouthful. It was very very interesting texture.
Anyway, this dessert is traditionally served around summer, It is because there is an abundance of mangoes during this time in Thailand. Same for most countries really, In the UK, starting April you can find sweet mangoes in local supermarkets until around August time. So, if you want to try this recipe now ( Spring -Summer) is the perfect time to experiment. Hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do! Happy Cooking!
This recipe is very simple, it is all about cooking a perfect sticky rice. The authentic Thai way of cooking sticky rice is with the use of Thai steamer (See photo below ) for reference. But you can use any steamer you have, just need to use a muslin cloth/ cheese cloth, the reason i said that it is because do not usually line with muslin cloth my thai steamer. There are only few ingredients involve they are mostly available in your local supermarkets if not, it will definitely be available in an asian supermarket. Also available online if preferred.
What you need to get
Sticky rice - it is also know as glutinous rice or sweet rice. It is used in a lot of dishes in different asian culinary world. Available in your oriental supermarket or online.
Coconut milk - available in local supermarkets, normally found in world food section. If not, asian supermarket will definitely have it.
Khao Neaw Ma- Muang
Full Ingredients : Serves 3-4
1 cup sticky rice
400 ml coconut milk or a can
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
sesame seeds or toasted desiccated coconut, for topping
1 tsp cornstarch dissolved with water, thickening agent for coconut milk topping
1-2 sweet ripe mango to serve
Garnish with roasted sesame seeds ,if allergy use toasted desiccated coconut
Method:
Rinse sticky rice with cold water gently, then soak for at least 4-6 hour or overnight. If overnight, place in the fridge with lid.
Drain water using a sieve and rinse with cold water gently to remove the starch.
Using a steamer boil water over medium heat. Place rice in the steamer and cover. Cook rice for 20 minutes first, then flip rice to cook the other side for another 5- 10 minutes. To flip the sticky rice gently toss it, it should hold together and create this ball like shape.
When ready, remove from heat and place it in heat proof bowl.
In a pot, Add coconut milk, sugar and salt. Bring it to soft boil, stirring constantly until sugar and salt are fully combined and dissolved. Remove from heat.
Add half amount of coconut sauce to cooked sticky rice, stir and combined fully, if its too dry, add some more. It should be wet but not too wet see photo above for reference. Set aside left- over sauce for toppings later.
Let the mixture soaked up for 1 hour, cover with clean tea towel, making sure towel is not touching the mixture.
When ready: heat up the left -over coconut sauce over low heat, stir in dissolve cornstarch stirring constantly to avoid clumping to thickened the sauce a little bit.
Serve sticky rice with sliced mango, drizzled with coconut milk sauce and topped with sesame seeds or toasted desiccated coconut. Enjoy!