Learn how to make black sticky rice porridge/ bubur ketan hitam (bubur injin )conveniently with a pressure cooker without having to soak the glutinous rice. So creamy, gooey, and delicious with a simple tip to make it cooks faster too. Instruction for cooking on the stove and rice cooker are included too.
DELICIOUS CREAMY BUBUR KETAN HITAM
Bubur ketan hitam is also known as bubur pulut hitam or bubur injin in Bali. Ketan or Pulut means glutinous rice. Hitam means black and so the English translation black glutinous rice. Black glutinous rice is one of the popular ingredients used in the dessert in Southeast Asia such as: kue koci gula kelapa and Coconut Black Sticky Rice with White Chocolate Mousse I made a while ago.
BLACK GLUTINOUS RICE (KETAN HITAM/PULUT HITAM)
Despite being called black glutinous rice, the rice grains actually have a purple hue to them after cooking. Black glutinous rice is also known as black sticky rice or black sweet rice. Don’t be mistaken with black forbidden rice or wild rice. Black glutinous rice is sticky, and gooey after being cooked. I like the sweet mild aroma of black glutinous rice. I find it very aromatic!
HEALTH BENEFITS OF BLACK GLUTINOUS RICE
1. Fiber
Black glutinous rice is unprocessed and it is high in fiber. As we know fiber helps to lower blood cholesterol and improve blood sugar level.
2. Unprocessed
Because it is unprocessed, it retains vitamins and minerals, and also high in anthocyanin, a pigment that gives is purplish hue color after cooking.
WHY YOU’LL LIKE THIS RECIPE
1. SIMPLE
Making bubur ketan hitam is never a complicated business. All you need are black glutinous rice, sugar, coconut milk, and pandan leaves if you have some.
2. NO SOAKING REQUIRED FOR PRESSURE COOKER
I love making bubur ketan with pressure cooker. The cooking time is not necessarily short, but I like that I don’t have to stir or add water (like the case in boiling on stove-top). It’s convenient.
3. NO-COOK COCONUT SAUCE
In the past, I usually heat the coconut milk until warm, but I’ve learned in recent years that coconut milk/cream retains its health benefit when you don’t expose them to heat, just like why cold-pressed coconut oil is good. So, any chance I have, I try not to expose them to the heat and usually when you boil the coconut milk, they “break” and turn frothy
VARIETIES YOU CAN DO WITH BUBUR KETAN HITAM
You can add the following beans to bubur ketan:
1. Mung beans
2. Red beans/adzuki beans
You can do half half: 100 gr beans and 100 gr black glutinous rice. If cooking on stove top, just soak the beans together with the rice and then cook them together after that. No soaking is required if cooking with pressure cooker.
Bubur ketan hitam with mung beans added
Don’t underestimate the humble look of bubur ketan hitam. There is nothing fancy about its look. This dessert is loved by many in Southeast Asia, including me. Bubur ketan hitam is so soft, gooey, and topped with that slightly salty coconut cream and I’m willing to go into a food coma for this! No kidding!
TIPS FOR CREAMY GOOEY TEXTURE
Bubur pulut hitam has a creamy, gooey consistency with soft with some bite from the rice texture because of the starch released from the grains during cooking.
1. IF THE RICE IS NOT SOAKED AND THE RICE GRAIN IS WHOLE (NOT BREAK INTO SMALLER PEICES)
Most recipes you see only require 15-25 minutes pressure cook time, why mine is set to 1 hour 15 minutes?
First of all, I don’t set this time just out of anywhere. I tested the recipe without soaking the rice and pressure cooked from 15 minutes all the way to 1 hour 15 minutes. This is how the rice looks like after 40 minutes of cooking and instead of creamy and gooey, the liquid is basically like a soup
The rice is cooked and al dente at 40 minutes of high pressure cooking
The liquid is still soupy and not creamy and gooey because the rice grains are still intact and no starches are released to make it thick
Then I continue to increase the cooking time and it is nice and gooey at 1 hour 15 minutes cooking time and 10 minutes natural release. It’s a pretty long time, but remember that you don’t have to stir or babysit like you would if you were to cook it on the stove.
2. IF THE RICE IS NOT SOAKED AND THE RICE IS BREAK INTO SMALLER PIECES (RECOMMENDED)
Then I decided I need to try to break the rice grains in a blender. I don’t want to turn it into a powder, but just want to basically break the rice grains into smaller pieces to see if it helps to shorten the cooking time and it did.
The whole thing turns creamy and gooey much faster too. 30 minutes + 10 minutes natural release are doable with this little extra step.
*Recipe is written for 6-quart Instant Pot. Cooking time should remain the same for 8-quart size but will take longer to pressurize. I recommend not to half the recipe for 8-quart size as it may trigger a “burn” alert. You need to cook at least the amount calls for in the recipe. For mini duo (3-quart), I recommend to half the recipe and use the same amount of time to cook*
Pressure Cooker Black Sticky Rice Dessert (Bubur Ketan Hitam / Bubur Pulut Hitam)
Ingredients
- 200 gr Black glutinous rice
- 150 gr Coconut sugar or palm sugar, or more if you like it sweeter
- 800 ml water (for pressure cooker and rice cooker) You may need add about 1000 ml of water if cooking on the stove
- 3 pandan leaves knotted
Coconut sauce:
- 1 cup coconut cream if using canned, shake before opening
- ¼ tsp salt or more to taste
Instructions
Soak the rice if cooking on the stove:
- Rinse the black glutinous rice briefly with a water and drain off water. In a big pot, soak the black glutinous rice overnight (at least 4 hours) with water enough to submerge all the rice
- Discard the water the next day and proceed to break the rice in a blender or food processor if you choose to do so
Break the rice in a blender or food processor :
- I should have thought of this earlier but I had my AHA moment the other day when I made this again and decided to break the rice grains in a blender. We don't want it to turn into a powder because it's nice to still be able to see and bite some of the grains. Rinse the black glutinous rice briefly with a water and drain off water
- Put the rice in a blender or a food processor and pulse it a few times, about 5-6 times (depending on your food processor or blender)
- Do this until at least most of the rice grains are broken. Remember we want them to be in smaller pieces and not into a powder. When you cook, the starch will release faster making it creamier and shorten the cooking time
Cooking on the stove:
- Put the broken rice in a heavy-bottom pot. Add water. Bring it to a boil and then add pandan leaves and sugar. Lower the heat to medium and simmer until the black glutinous rice is broken, soft, and gooey, this may take 45 minutes to 1 hour or longer. Stir it to prevent catching at the bottom of the pot every now and then. You may need to add water if the water dries up before the glutinous rice turns soft and gooey and has the thick porridge consistency
Cooking with Instant Pot Pressure Cooker:
- Put the rice in the inner pot of Instant Pot. Add sugar, pandan leaves, and water. Give it a stir. Close the lid. Turn the steam release valve to seal. Press "pressure cooker" and make sure it's on "high pressure" and set the timer to 30 minutes and then wait 10 minutes to release pressure
Cooking with a rice cooker:
- Put the rice in the inner pot of the rice cooker. Add sugar, pandan leaves, and water. Give it a stir. Close the lid. I have a brown rice setting and I use that to cook this bubur pulut hitam, otherwise, just set to cook and repeat cycle if it's not thick enough
Coconut sauce:
- Mix the coconut sauce with salt. Stir to mix. You have an option to serve the coconut sauce without cooking (I like it this way now when I have an option not to expose the coconut to any heat) or you can just let it come to a gently simmer until it's warm and remove from the heat
Serving:
- The bubur ketan hitam can be served warm or room temperature. Generously ladle some coconut sauce over the bubur and serve immediately
28 comments
Really fast and easy using pressure cooker. Thanks!
Hi Marvellina,
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I tried the instant pot version and cooked it at 1hr 15min. This is really close to the consistency that I grew up eating in Singapore, the only thing I did different was to add a more water to make it slightly less gooey. Your recipe pretty authentic. Can’t wait to try more desserts. Thank you again!
Hi Rachel, I’m glad it turned out for you 🙂
1 hour 15 minutes setting in the pressure cooker in the pressure cooker is overkill! I have seen other recipes online that call for as little as 15 minutes or 22 minutes. I find that 22 minutes setting in the pressure cooker is okay but 25 minutes is better.
I have tested this recipe over and over with different timing and that’s how I arrived at 1 hour 15 minutes. It’s true that you can get the rice to cook in as little as 20 minutes without soaking on high pressure, still al dente and soupy, BUT, to get to a gooey creamy consistency, not even 40 minutes will do it. I guess it’s a personal preference, but for bubur ketan hitam, most would want it to be really creamy and the rice has a mixture of broken grains in there that makes it creamy.
I followed your recipe exactly to the T with IP. But I kept smelling something burnt when I was cooking it but I disregarded it and opened according the the timing you posted. When I opened it,the rice was not cooked, it was very tough and all the liquid was gone.With all the sugar incorporated, it was so sticky so I added more water and let it sat for few more hours. After that I cooked it again and it turned out great.
My question is, do you have any ide why mine turned out raw? I would love to make it again without presoaking but scared it comes out the same. Thanks
Hi Angelina, that’s very weird, was there any chance that it might cook on “low pressure” instead of “high pressure”?
Hi, would the same method and cooking time apply for mung beans? I plan to use my 6qt Instant Pot. Thank you.
Hi Sheilla, mung beans do not need to be cooked for that long. No need to soak either. If you are talking about the green whole mung beans, you can cook it in liquid on high pressure for 20 minutes. For split yellow mung beans that only needs about 10 minutes on high pressure. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much Marv for the recipe! Today is the 4th time I used this recipe to the T and it is an absolute best recipe. My family loves it! I cannot wait to try your other recipes as well. I was from Medan, went to Texas then work in singapore and back to Portland now. We have the same taste for sure!!
You are amazing cook Marvellina! Thank you!
Hi Liany, I’m so happy to hear that you like this recipe! It seems like we have a very similar background 🙂 Thank you for your kind words. I don’t think I’m an amazing cook but I sure love to tinker at the kitchen ha..ha..! Thanks again for trying out the recipe and for letting me know 🙂 Made my day 🙂
Hi Marvelling,
I made this last night and it was heavenly good! So happy I found your website. Now I know how to make this myself… it’s so simple! Thank you!!! Now I”d like to make twice the amount, do I DBL the amt of water, and sugar? And what would be the took time on instant pot?
Hi Grace, you can certainly double up the recipe by doubling the amount of water and sugar and pretty much all the ingredients. The cooking time will remain the same. It will just take the IP a bit longer to pressurize since it has more things in there, but cooking time remains the same 🙂 Hope this helps. I’m so glad you enjoy the recipe. Thank you for trying and for letting me know 🙂
Hi Marvellina,
Yes I double checked before I started. I found other recipes with quite wide range of variation of the amount of liquid (water and coconut milk combined) from 1 cup to 3 cup. Some recipe incorporates milk directly within the instant pot. As far as I remember, this is not how the authentic Bubur Ketan hitam was made. Yours is the most authentic. The coconut cream/milk is served on top of the cooked Ketan hitam.
Hi Yudi,
Let me experiment with this again and I will report to you back 🙂 Sorry for the trouble!
Hi Yudi, I’ve experimented several rounds and I’ve updated the amount of water and cooking time accordingly in the recipe. The cooking time definitely needs to be increased to get that soft, gooey, and thick texture. The amount of water called for in the recipe is necessary so we won’t trigger the “burn” from instant pot and able to achieve that soft and gooey texture. If I decrease the amount of water and decrease the cooking time, the result was just not good.
Just found this recipe today.
Tried it but I think the water may be too much. When I open the lid, the water was still in there as though it never cooked.
Maybe i should have chosen the porridge setting?
Hi Yudi,
Hmmm…was it on “high pressure” ? There were a couple times that I didn’t realize it was on “low pressure” and it didn’t cook properly. You can use porridge setting too, I’ve never tried it myself with this recipe.
I don’t have a pressure cooker. Could you give me the recipe for cooking on the stove?
I was born in Indonesia and lived there for 16 years, until we, the Dutch, were kicked out of Indonesia.
So I’m very familiar with most dishes. Bubur Ketan Hitam is one of my favorites. Love the recipes.
Thank you,
Louise
Hello Louise, the instruction for cooking on the stove is included in the recipe card. It’s under “Cooking on the stove” section :)Bubur ketan hitam is one of my favorite Indonesian desserts too!
I am too originally from Indonesia so I have a high standard for bubur ketan hitam HA! 🙂 This IP recipe came out PERFECT! I doubled the recipe and used the 1 hour and 15 min method using IP and just adjusted the sugar once it’s done. Life saver! I can now just sit and enjoy my coffee while it’s cooking! Thank you so much Marvellina, I love your recipe!!
Hi Merry, I’m happy to know that it meets your high standard 🙂 IP is a life-saver! We can now have bubur ketan hitam on the same day without having to soak the rice 🙂