Sticky Coconut Rice

This sticky rice was kind of a revelation for me the other day at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market.There was this Thai stand and all around it this people holding this banana leaf thing, I couldn’t resist checking it out, so I went there to ask the lady what it was, and she told me that usually they have that for breakfast in Thailand.

Okay do you love Thai people even more right now or what? Rice pudding for breakfast? With juicy sweet mango all wrapped in a cool boat made of banana leaves.  Oh Boy! It was so good. So this weekend I was having this insane craves for Thai food and the best Thai restaurant here in LA is probably couple hours driving in traffic. So I thought screw that…I’ll try to make my own, I got my trusty Thai books and started my cooking. The house smelled fantastic and we had a yummy Thai night, sans traffic or lines, sipping delicious wine while cooking my dinner. It was fun. And for dessert I made the sticky coconut rice. I couldn’t find the banana leaves. Oh well…still tasted good.

Sticky Coconut Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of Arborio or short grain rice
• 2 cups of coconut milk
• 1-cup sugar
• 1-2 ripe mangoes, peeled and sliced
• 1-½ cups of water

Directions:

Rinse the rice once or twice, cover with water 2-3 inches above the rice line and allow soaking for ½ hour in a pan adding the water and sugar and cooking for few minutes then drain the rice and add to the coconut milk mixture. Let it simmer until the rice has absorbed all the liquid. Stir occasionally to keep rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning.