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Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango (Khao Niao Mamuang)- This super easy gluten-free popular Thai dessert is made of white sticky rice/sweet rice/glutinous rice cooked and then served with coconut milk, slices of mango, and sprinkle of sesame seeds. It’s creamy, it’s sweet, it’s slightly salty, it’s AMAZING!!
Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango (Khao Niao Mamuang)
I have linked sweet sticky rice with coconut and mango to Thailand almost immediately. It’s like one of the things you must try if you have not when you are in Thailand. This very simple dessert which also known as khao niao mamuang in Thai, is simply awesome. Sticky rice or often known as glutinous rice or sweet rice in Asia is a very common ingredient used to prepare main dishes, appetizers or desserts. Please don’t be mistaken with sushi rice or other short grain rice.
If you go to Thailand and you see a bamboo basket, you can be sure that it’s sticky rice inside. The sticky rice is usually steamed and then dressed with coconut milk and accompanied with mango slices. It’s hard to imagine how simple stuff can be so good, but the combination is so very good. You just have to try to know what I mean.
Sweet sticky rice with coconut and mango can be found at curbside and restaurants throughout Thailand. As shared in the Bangkok Street Food cookbook, to the Thai people, especially those from the Isan, sticky rice symbolize how they “stick” together through joys and tears. They stick together as sticky rice 🙂
HOW TO MAKE GOOD KHAO NIAO MAMUANG IN A NUTSHELL
1. Soak the sticky rice the night before or for at least 4 hours
2. Discard the soaking water and then steam the rice until they are tender
3. Meanwhile cook the coconut milk on moderate heat with sugar, pandan leavesand pinch of salt. Just cook until the sugar is melted, do not boil the coconut milk
4. Choose a ripe mango and cut into cubes or slices. It’s up to you
5. Once the steamed sticky rice is ready, pour half of the coconut milk mixture to the rice and then stir to mix and let it stand
6. Serve the rice with the mango and coconut milk on the side. Sprinkle with white sesame seeds if you like
This is my kind of dessert !!
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Recipe is adapted from Bangkok Street Food cookbook
Thai Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango (Khao Niao Mamuang)
Ingredients
- 400 gr sticky rice/glutinous rice/sweet rice
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 125 gr sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 pandan leaves/screwpine leaves if frozen, thawed
- 1-2 ripe mangoes
- Roasted sesame seeds optional
Instructions
- Rinse sticky rice frequently until the water is clear. Leave the sticky rice soak for one night in cold water. If you are pressing for time, at least 4 hours in water (sorry, can't be any earlier or it won't turn out good)
- Bring the water in the steamer to a boil. Steam the sticky rice in the steamer basket with a lid for 20 minutes
- While the sticky rice is steaming, put the coconut milk in a pan on a low heat. Add sugar, salt and pandan leave and let simmer gently for 5 minutes. Do not boil the coconut milk
- Remove the pandan leaves and use a pair of tongs to wring it above the coconut milk so you don't lose too much coconut milk that is absorbed by the pandan leaves. Pour half of the coconut milk mixture over the warm sticky rice and stir to mix. The sticky rice has to be moist but not drowned in coconut milk. Leave to stand for 15 minutes
- Peel the mango and cut in small cubes. You can use this hedgehog method for easier cutting: Slice both mangoes down either side of the stone. Take each half and score a crisscross pattern about 2 cm down through the flesh, stopping at the skin. Turn the skin inside out so the mango pieces pop up. Trim the skin off the middle bit where the stone is, then cut them into cubes as well so you are not throwing any extra flesh away
- Put the sticky rice in small servings bowls, spoon over a few tablespoon of the other half of the (warm) coconut mixture and scoop some mango cubes on top. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds