#291_Thai Mango-Sticky Rice

Thai Mango Sticky Rice

A guest at a dinner party I went to just recently brought this delicious dessert (picture above) with some coconut sauce in a separate container for the topping. The guest who brought it was actually a Filipina who grew up in Thailand, so there should be an authenticity in her dish. Too bad she left early so I was not able to ask for her recipe....maybe, she knew I was going to so she left early... just kidding.

I wanted to replicate that dessert so bad so I browsed the net and found many different recipes out there, so it was a little hard to choose which one would be close to the kind I tasted at the party. Fortunately, I am able to put a recipe together.....

This dessert is a "cousin" to our very own "Biko" or is a variant of Biko or vice versa (click here for my post on Biko). The reason I said that is because they share common ingredients, i.e. glutinous rice or sticky rice, coconut cream and sugar, but the method of preparation is different from each other thereby resulting to different end products.

Here's what separates the two:
First, the consistency of the Thai sticky rice is so moist, as the rice is saturated with coconut sauce. Whereas the Philippine Biko is drier as we cook the rice a little passed "al dente" stage, which means the rice grains are soft and yet firm. Second, the Thai sticky rice uses coconut sauce for toppings, whereas the Philippine Biko is topped with "latik" ( "ganusal" in Pangasinan), or sometimes topped with toasted flaked coconut. In other words, Thai sticky rice is wet that you have to scoop the rice out with a spoon while the Philippine Biko is dry, and can be sliced. Both kinds are very good.

Thai Mango Sticky Rice, a.k.a. Biko con "Sabaw"

I made this dessert using both white glutinous rice and purple rice
and they turned out really good.
The purple rice is maybe another cousin...
maybe a third cousin. (*..")wink, wink!

Here's my take on this recipe which tastes
so close to the one I tasted at the party....

Rinse and soak 4 cups of glutinous rice in water overnight.
Cook sticky rice either by steaming method or rice cooker method.(to cook rice in rice cooker,
refer to my post on Biko, recipe #7, click here)
While the rice is cooking make the Coconut Sauce:
Sauce 1:
1-1/2 cans coconut cream
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Cook this mixture in a pan over medium heat,
stirring until sugar is dissolved.
Stir in 1 tsp vanilla extract, a secret ingredient

Spread cooked rice on a dish and pour Sauce 1 over it.
Let the sauce soak into the rice.
(can also stir/mix sauce and rice together)

Sauce 2:
1/2 can coconut cream
1/4 cup sugar
dash salt
1 tsp Tapioca starch dissolved in a little bit of water.

Put ingredients in a sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring
until sugar is dissolved and sauce is thickened a little bit.
Add a 1/2 tsp of Vanilla extract....or a drop or 2...
that's a secret ingredient.

(Note1:this sauce won't get too thick, it is just slightly thicker than Sauce1. The 1/2 tsp of tapioca starch is just enough to give the sauce a little body to consistency of the sauce.

To serve the Sticky Rice, scoop up the cooked rice
with an ice cream scooper onto a platter,
then pour Sauce 2 over rice. Arrange mango slices along side.



Note: the amount of coconut milk and sugar to use in this recipe
is totally a personal preference.
If you want this dessert to be sweeter,
then add more sugar,
if you want to use more coconut cream,
there's nothing wrong with that either.

Another option on serving this dessert is to
put Sauce 2 in a separate bowl
and place it along side the plate.

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Here's a simpler way to make the Coconut Sauce:

Pour 2 cans of coconut cream in a sauce pan, then add 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to simmer over medium high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Take out about 1-1/2 cups of the sauce into a bowl. Set aside....This is Sauce 1

Dissolve the Tapioca starch in a little bit of water and mix it in with the remaining coconut sauce in the pan, continue to heat it up, stirring, until the sauce is slightly thickened....
This is Sauce 2.
Don't forget to add in the secret ingredient!

Steamed Glutinous Rice
I will be posting "how to steam rice" in another entry.

FYI...this is the best kind of mango to serve with this dessert.

Update 5-2-11...See post on how to steam rice with an improvised steamer, click here.

Related post from this blog: other ways to serve Biko:
http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/08/biko-with-mango-jam-topping.html http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/08/165biko-mango-custard-sushi-style.html

#170_ Biko & Mango Jam Deja Vu

Biko Topped with Home-Made Mango Jam
from Post #167

The kids in my ward were playing "Fear Factor"
and requested people from other nationalities
to bring food from their countries.
Well, I didn't want to gross the kids out too bad so I thought
the new biko recipe of mine might be a good one to take to them.

Lisa Taylor in the center is holding the bilao-ful of biko
with the rest of the no-fear-for-the-biko youths.


Here's how to prepare this dessert:

1) Make the Biko without the traditional topping.
To check out the Biko recipe, click here.
2) Press cooked Biko in a baking dish and slice it into squares.
3) Place each slice in paper muffin cup liners.
4) Make indentations in the center of each rice cake
with the back of a measuring teaspoon,
then fill them with mango jam.

ENJOY!!!

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#167_Biko with Mango Jam Topping

Here's another way to serve Biko.....
top it with Mango Jam. Mmmmmm goodness!!

I might be breaking the rules here
by deviating from the traditional biko topping,
but this sure gives the "old" Biko (click here), a nice lift.

I had biko and mango jam in the freezer and every time
I opened the freezer these two kept staring
at me like they're screaming:
"get me out of here!" and " eat me, eat me!"
I felt sorry for them so, finally the other day,
I took them out of the freezer
and thawed them out in the fridge overnight.
Just before I put them together,
I heated up the Biko in the microwave,
then topped it with Mango Jam.
What an excellent pair! Made in Heaven!
Fabulistic!!!

Mango Jam goes really well with sticky rice or malagkit or biko.
To make plain Biko check out Sushi Style Biko recipe #165.
For Mango Jam recipe click here.

I bought a box of these red/green mangoes a while back.
I knew I wouldn't enjoy them, but because I was desperate,
I thought I'd give them a try.
Didn't care much to eat them after all, but
to turn them into jam, they're okay.

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