Mango & Sticky Rice Dessert

Rice preparation and cooking

1. In a large bowl, wash the rice by submerging in water and gently rubbing it between your hands. Then rinse and drain the cloudy water from the bowl. Do this a few times.
2. Add clean water to the bowl enough just to cover the rice by about couple inches.
3. OPTIONAL: Add alum powder. Stir by hand to dissolve it and soak the rice at least 3 hours. The alum will give the rice the nice sheen.
4. After soaking the rice at least 3 hours or preferably overnight, prepare your steamer. If you have the Asian bamboo cone steamer and its deep pot, fill about half the pot with water (make sure your bamboo cone bottom will not dip in the water). If you don’t you can use your regular steamer that is big enough to steam the amount of rice you use.
5. While waiting for the steamer to boil, rinse the rice couple more time gently. At this stage the grain will be have absorbed the water and will be brittle. Drain the rice in muslin cloth (for easy handling later) placed over a strainer. Gather all cloth rim and lift the ball of rice to help the water drips off. Leave it back of the strainer to help drain excess water about 5-10 minutes until the water is boiling.
6. Steam for about 15 minutes (which is about half the total time to steam) and flip the muslin bundle over to evenly steam the rice on both side.
7. Steam for a total of 30 minutes or until the rice is cooked and opaque.

1. While the rice is being steamed, prepare your coconut syrup by adding coconut milk, sugar, salt into a brass wok. If you don’t have one you can also use another wok or pot. Stir all the ingredients together until sugar is dissolved.
2. When the rice is almost cooked, place the wok of coconut syrup onto the medium heat.
3. Keep stirring until it comes to a gentle boil. Turn off the heat and put the syrup mixture into a heat proof container with a lid. OR leave in the pot and get the lid ready.
4. When the rice is cooked, turn off the heat and gently tip the rice into the syrup bowl. Quickly stir the rice into the syrup and make sure they are thoroughly mixed. Close the lid and let sit for 10 minutes.
5. Open the lid and flip the rice with a wooden spatula. It may look like one big block of rice stuck together at this stage but that is normal. Stir to fluff the rice again. Close the lid and let the rice absorb the remaining of the coconut syrup. Let cool completely while making the coconut cream topping.

1. In a brass wok or heavy bottom saucepan, combine coconut milk and rice flour together and stir until the flour dissolves.
2. Add sugar and salt, stir again until sugar dissolves.
3. Place over medium low heat and keep stirring until the sauce is thicker and can coat the back of a wooden spoon (think custard consistency). Turn off the heat.
4. Plate your cooled sticky rice and pour the coconut cream topping over or serve in a small side dish to be added to each guest’s preference. Add fresh sliced mango to the side.
5. For a modern style dish add crunchy, fried golden Mung Bean sprinkles on top of the coconut sauce (old fashioned fans may find this disrupts the soft and smooth texture of the dessert, and opt out).