"Sticky Coconut Rice with______"

This one is for you, Jess. You get to fill in the blank on this one. One of the things that I like about making sweet sticky rice is that you can top it with just about anything. The most common combination is to put sliced or diced mango on it. This is very common in various Asian countries. Here in Texas, though, we sometimes have ripe mangoes and sometimes not. So in the peak of the summer fruit season there are myriad choices of wonderful fruits that do well with sticky rice. Some other fruits that I think would work well with this recipe are: blueberries, cherries (pitted), papaya, banana, kiwi, and dates.

We happen to have lots of nice plums at the store so I picked a hybrid called Plumogranate. This is just a regular plum with a deep crimson flesh and juice that is reminiscent of the color of a pomegranate. The flavor is sweet/tart, leaning to sweet. The flesh is firm, providing a nice bite but nowhere near crunchy.

The other nice thing about this recipe is that all you need to be sure you have on hand is a can of coconut milk, plums (or the fruit of your choice), a little brown sugar, and some sweet rice or sushi rice. For this recipe I used the short grain sushi rice available in the bulk department of my store. I like this type of rice because it takes less prep time than the true Sweet Rice (glutenous rice). If you get a package of the latter just be sure that you follow the directions on the package and allow yourself plenty of time to prep. I recommend the short grain sushi rice, though. It is more readily available and a snap to prep.


Measure out one cup of rice, put it into a strainer and rinse it. Agitate it with your fingers while you rinse it until the water runs fairly clear. Drain the remaining water from the rice and put the rice into a bowl. Let it rest on the counter while you prepare the coconut milk.


Shake the can of coconut milk very well and then put the contents into a small saucepan. Stir in 1/2 cup of brown sugar and put the pan over a low flame to gently warm the milk. (The little swirl of brown you see on the coconut milk is the brown sugar. Stir it so that it is completely dissolved.)


Measure out 1 cup of water using the same cup you used to measure the rice (this is how a sushi chef taught me to make sushi rice and I never deviate from his method). Bring the water to a boil and add the rice. Cover and simmer the rice until all the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. Just peek down into the rice, using a spoon to separate the grains, to see if there is any moisture left in the pan. The grains should be translucent and tender.


Pour the sweet coconut milk over the rice and allow the pan to sit at room temperature until the rice has absorbed the milk.



When the milk has been absorbed (this could take up to an hour) you are ready to serve the rice. If you want, though, you can chill the rice and serve it cold. Simply mound the rice on a plate, top it with your choice of fruit, and, if you have a little bit of milk left over (I tend to save about 1/4 cup for garnish), drizzle a little sweet coconut milk around the plate. Yum. I like to eat cold leftovers for breakfast, too. Eat up, Jess!


Sticky Coconut Rice with Mango

1 cup Short Grain Sushi Rice
1 cup Water
1 can Coconut Milk
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 Mango, peeled and sliced (if you want more mango, by all means add it)

Rinse the rice in running water until the water runs fairly clear. Let the rice rest for 10 minutes.

Mix the coconut milk with the brown sugar and put it over a low flame to gently warm.

Cook the rice in 1 cup of water until all the moisture has been absorbed.

Pour the coconut milk over the rice and let it stand until it has been absorbed. This could take about an hour.

Mound the rice on plates and top with mango. If you want, you can save about 1/4 cup of the sweet coconut milk for garnish to drizzle around the plate.