Sticky Coconut Rice with Mango

Last week I had the task of preparing lots of carbs for the husband as he prepared for a cycling event. Mr Foodie's particular route entailed starting at Rippleside Park in Geelong at 6am and riding to Queenscliff to meet the Sorrento ferry. From Sorrento the ride continued for several hours until the finishing line at Alexandra Gardens in Melbourne's CBD. Starting time was 6am and the husband finished at 3.00pm. After picking our cyclist up from the gardens I suggested he/we enjoy some recovery protein by way of some dee-lish hamburgers at Misty's Diner in Prahran (though I had Matzo ball soup and half a pastrami-on-rye). It's hard slog finding a carpark around the gardens when you're surrounded by thousands of other cyclists and their families &/or friends! I did many blocky's.

But what about fuel before the big ride? Various cycling websites recommend loading-up on carbs. When you think of carb's and cuisine, 'Italian' and pasta may come to mind, but the day before the event I decided to go Thai instead. For main course we had a prawn and asparagus red curry served with noodles served separately so I could portion-control those carbs. For dessert we had today's recipe! Sticky coconut rice served with fresh mango (though.. the husband had peaches as he doesn't like mango.. or passionfruit for that matter). But apparantly in Thailand, mango is the way to go and I personally love that combo.

I've gotta tell ya... I LOVE my bamboo steamer which I only acquired some months ago. For years I've been using the fold-up metal-petal basket steamers that always seem to lose their petal's or break or lose one of their little metallic legs. Metal steamer baskets are plopped into saucepan's with water and I've used them for donkey's years. Now that I have an electric wok (which I also love) & a bamboo steamer, my food steams much more efficiently. In half the time I reckon. Anyway, I've eaten steamed rice at restaurants.. but I'd never steamed any myself. Not until last week. I'm too much of a rice-cooker convert. For this dessert I decided to do as I was told because all of the recipe's I researched asked for the rice to be steamed. They also asked for way too much sugar, so I heavily modified the quantity so as not to give anyone a toothache. But suit yourself. Be sure to use ripe mango's and be generous with your fruit portions because it compliments the coconutty rice so well. So.... sub-tropical.Sticky Coconut Rice with Mango
Serves 6

-2 cups of white glutinous rice (available at Asian grocer's or some supermarkets)
-2 cups of coconut milk
-1/2 cup of sugar
-1 teaspoon of salt
-2 ripe mango's (or substitute with slices of kiwi fruit, moist, ripe peaches or passionfruit)
-A few tablespoonful's of coconut cream (thicker than coconut milk) to drizzle over when serving
-Optional: black and/or white sesame seeds to garnish
----------------------------------------------------
-Rinse rice (in a strainer) with cold water, then drain.
-In a large bowl, cover rinsed rice with cold water and soak for one hour.
-Drain soaked rice and put in a heatproof bowl then steam for approximately 20 minutes (a bamboo steamer is ideal, finished rice should be chewy, not crunchy in texture).
-When rice is ready, turn off heat and prepare coconut milk mixture.
-Mix salt and sugar with coconut milk then heat in microwave until dissolved and coconut milk is hot..Alternatively you can do this on top of the stove.
-Put steamed rice into a large bowl and pour over hot coconut milk mixture, then stir well.
-Cover bowl tightly with two layers of plastic food wrap & let sit for half an hour.
-Prepare chunks or slices of mango.
-When rice is ready, serve by moulding sticky rice into balls with wet hands or use small souffle dishes or similar (sprayed with cooking oil) to 'mould' the ric. Then upturn moulds onto serving plates.
-Top sticky coconut rice with slices of ripe mango, sprinkle with sesame seeds, drizzle with coconut cream and serve immediately.
-Sticky rice is best eaten straight away but can be refrigerated for a day and warmed.
In a large bowl, soak rinsed rice in cold water for an hour.Drain & rinse rice again.Steam rice for approximately 20 minutes.Prepare coconut milk mixture to pour over steamed rice.


Put steamed rice in a larger bowl, pour over coconut milk mixture....

Tightly cover steamed rice & coconut mik with plastic food wrap (I do two layers)... Wait half an hour and your rice is ready to eat. As an option, mould the rice into balls with wet hands or use a souffle dish or similar to make a tidier, symmetrical shape. I spray my moulds first with a little cooking oil spray.
Top sticky coconut rice with fresh slices of ripe mango and a sprinkling of black sesame seeds (.. white sesame seeds are fine.. or a combo of both)!
Slices of golden kiwi fruit on the side as a garnish.


Dollop some coconut cream over finished dessert.

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