Thai Mango Sticky Rice

Sweet and juicy mango paired with soft and aromatic rice. This traditional Thai dessert is warm, comforting and filling.

During my trip to Chiang Mai, my uncle’s wife, Ning, showed me how to make traditional Mango Sticky rice from scratch. Though this dish looks quite simple, there is some complexity when making the rice. When Ning showed me how to make this dish, we bought already cooked sticky rice. Street vendor's and food markets sell ready to eat sticky rice all over Chiang Mai district so it wasn’t hard to come by. But, if you like in places like Hawaii, or the rest of USA, it's not common and most likely rare to find.

Auntie Ning and Uncle Howard in Chiang Mai

After doing some research on the sticky rice, I learned a lot. There is actually a lot to learn when it comes to types of rie and the process behind cooking each type. It turns out that the kind of rice necessary to make mango sticky rice is very specific. It has to be Thai sticky rice which is not the same as Japanese sticky rice known as Mochigome (this rice is used to make mochi). There is also a difference between Thai Jasmine rice and Thai sticky rice. It is absolutely necessary to buy Thai sticky rice and no other (the labe will say Thai sticky rice and describe it as sweet and aroma). Now that we covered how important the rice is, let's talk about how to cook it.

I used Golden Camel Brand Thai Sticky Rice

Ingredients

2 Cups Thai Sticky rice

Water

Equipment

Steamer with lid

Nut milk bag (bought mine at a health food store)

Procedures

In a container put about 2 cups of sticky rice and enough water to cover the rice. Cover with a lid and let soak overnight.

Next morning strain the rice removing all the water (I did this with the nut milk bag). Rinse the rice and set aside.

Fill the steamer with just enough water to steam, but to too much that it will touch the rice. Cover and bring to a boil.

Once the water is boil and steam is created, add the rice still inside of the nut bag into the steamer basket. Spread the rice out evenly and poke how to help steam rice evenly.

Cover and let steam for 20 minutes. When the rice is soft but still a little bit chewy, turn off the stove and remove the rice still in the nut bag from the steamer. Place in a bowl and cover with lid or damp towel.

Set aside and keep at room temperature.

Now that the hard part is done and you have successfully make sticky rice, it's time to make Mango Sticky Rice. Trust me, from here on out the recipe is a breezy.

Ingredients

2 Ripe Mangoes (I prefer my mangoes cold in this dish so throw them in the fridge the night before)

2 cups cooked Thai sticky rice

1 can or 1 and 1/2 cups full fat coconut milk

1/4 cup sugar

1 pinch salt

Procedures

Add the coconut milk to a medium saucepan and turn on to medium heat over the stove. Once the coconut milk has come to a simmer, add the sugar and salt. Mix until the sugar has completely dissolved and turn off heat.

Put the sticky rice into a large bowl. Slowly pour the coconut milk over the rice while mixing gently. The rice should become fully coated in the milk making it have the consistency of a thick pudding, but not porridge.

Cut the mango as desired and serve with a health scoop of the coconut sticky rice.

I hope you guys enjoy this recipe. I was really fun for me to learn this recipe first hand the traditional way and then recreate it at home. I know the method of cooking the rice isn’t completely traditional, but it is conventional for the everyday house cook. Let me know down in the comments if you tried it out or if you have any questions. Thank you so much!