Thai Mango Sticky Rice, cooked in a banana leaf, creamy coconut, fresh, ripe and the sweetest mangoes. Since most countries have closed their borders for us Indians – the only way to travel and live vicariously right now is via travel shows and cooking lots and lots of food. I love to experiment with Thai flavours. The first lockdown back in April 2020 (wow, that seems eons ago now) was all about making Thai curries from scratch. And then came an array of other curries, and coconut curries and bakes. And it has come to a full circle with this Thai dessert which just screams SUMMER!
Mango sticky rice is a classic Thai street favourite. Sticky rice cooked with coconut milk – topped with coconut milk sauce. Finished with sesame seeds white and black and crunchy moong dal.
Check out some other Thai favourites here –
Red Thai curry from scratch
Penang Curry
Thai curry puffs
Pad Thai noodles
Cooking the sticky rice
First and foremost, start by prepping your rice. You can either soak the rice overnight or for at least 8 hours before cooking. Or wash the rice with water constantly until it runs clear.
You can cook it in 2 ways as well – one is the easier one where you bring a large pot of water to boil and add the rice, cook on medium flame until fluffy. Takes about 40 minutes for the rice to cook completely.
The other is steaming the rice wrapped in pandan leaves or banana leaves. Traditionally pandan leaves are used but banana leaves are a good substitute. Line a bamboo steamer with banana leaves, add the rice and put on a pot of boiling water for about 20 minutes. I like to cook the rice again with some of the coconut milk sauce to really soak in the flavours. Steam for another 10 minutes before incorporating all the coconut milk sauce in the rice.
Garnishes
This simple dessert is elevated by topping it up with sesame seeds. But the best topping you should try it with is fried moong dal. The salty, crunchy topping is the perfect contrast and super interesting addition.
Ingredients for Thai Mango Sticky Rice – serves 4
- Sticky rice – 1 cup, soaked overnight (I use Food Library’s, easily available on Amazon)
- Coconut milk – 300 ml
- Banana leaves – 2-3 small ones (or pandan leaves if you find them)
- Sugar – 2 tbsp
- Cornflour – 1 tsp
- Ripe Mangoes – 2 medium-sized
- Black and white sesame seeds – 2 tbsp for garnish
- Crispy fried moong dal – 1/4 cup for garnish
Method for Thai Mango Sticky Rice
- Start by cooking the rice. Line the bamboo steamer with banana leaves. Add the soaked rice in the centre, cover and place on top of a boiling pot of water. You can also use a steamer insert if you don’t have a bamboo steamer. Or simply cook the rice in the pot of boiling water, the texture in this case is mushier, so keep stirring. Let it steam for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, lets start with your coconut sauce. Add the coconut milk to a shallow pan. On medium heat combine the sugar with the coconut milk, make sure to not boil it. Taste and adjust sugar according to your taste.
- Remove from heat and divide this coconut sauce into 3 equal parts. We will use 1 to give the rice the last cook, the second would be incorporated into the rice post cooking. And the third would become the sauce we use for topping.
- Use one third of the sauce, add cornflour to it and stir on low heat to make a thick slurry. Keep aside.
- Carefully remove the bamboo steamer from the pot of water. Add 1/3rd of the coconut sauce and mix well. Steam for another 10 minutes.
- Remove and dish out the rice into a bowl. Add the remaining coconut sauce to the rice and mix well until combined.
- Peel the mangoes and dice into cubes or slice.
- Serve with fresh, sweet mangoes, topped with sweet coconut sauce, white and black sesame seeds and fried moong dal.
Thai mango sticky rice
Materials
- 1 cup Sticky Rice soaked for 8 hours
- 300 ml Coconut milk
- 3 Banana leaves
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Cornflour
- 2 tbsp Sesame seeds mix of white and black sesame
- ¼ cup Fried moong dal optional
Instructions
- Start by cooking the rice. Line the bamboo steamer with banana leaves. Add the soaked rice in the centre, cover and place on top of a boiling pot of water. You can also use a steamer insert if you don’t have a bamboo steamer. Or simply cook the rice in the pot of boiling water, the texture in this case is mushier, so keep stirring. Let it steam for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, lets start with your coconut sauce. Add the coconut milk to a shallow pan. On medium heat combine the sugar with the coconut milk, make sure to not boil it. Taste and adjust sugar according to your taste.
- Remove from heat and divide this coconut sauce into 3 equal parts. We will use 1 to give the rice the last cook, the second would be incorporated into the rice post cooking. And the third would become the sauce we use for topping.
- Use one third of the sauce, add cornflour to it and stir on low heat to make a thick slurry. Keep aside.
- Carefully remove the bamboo steamer from the pot of water. Add 1/3rd of the coconut sauce and mix well. Steam for another 10 minutes.
- Remove and dish out the rice into a bowl. Add the remaining coconut sauce to the rice and mix well until combined.
- Peel the mangoes and dice into cubes or slice.
- Serve with fresh, sweet mangoes, topped with sweet coconut sauce, white and black sesame seeds and fried moong dal.
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