Thai Mango Sticky Rice - (Khao Niao Mamuang)

My wife and I had always loved Thailand. We were so blessed to have friends in this wonderful country that has introduced us to the culture but most importantly, to the FOOD!

We love Thai Food, I mean, who wouldn't fall in love with the exciting flavors and interesting methods of cooking in every dish. But if you are not the explorer type and does not really have good tolerance with spicy food, it is very important to learn how to say this phrase "MAI PET". Well, I am not talking about my pet or someone else's pet, lol, but it is a phrase which translates to "Not Spicy" in Thai. So the next time you went to a local restaurant near your hotel, make sure that you don't get so adventurous because believe me, the word Mai Pet doesn't mean as it translate. It will still be spicy at some point but I guess it's just me and my concerns of not destroying my taste buds. I believe it all depends on your "Spiciness Tolerance" and level of craziness combined.

One of the most loved food in our list is the famous Thai Mango Sticky Rice or Khao Niao Mamuang as it is locally known (my wife would always make fun of me when I mimic the sound as I order to a local Thai folk). The coconut flavor is something that we, as Filipinos, are normally familiar with but with all honesty, we never thought it would go well with mangoes. Being a tropical country, the Philippines has one of the best tasting mangoes in the world. I don't mean to exaggerate but it really has its distinct flavor and aroma. I know some of our readers who have tasted mangoes in the Philippines would agree.

So in this blog I would like to share my take of this amazing Thai thingy! Here is a simple recipe that we use to do in our restaurant in Bahrain. Of course, I won't be revealing everything we did but I am pretty sure you can do this at home even without the traditional Bamboo steamer. We will basically just wing in with what you have in your kitchen.

Ingredients:

100 grams Thai Glutinous Rice

200 grams Water

400 ml. Coconut Milk

250 grams Sugar or Palm Sugar (or depends on how sweet you want it to be)

2 pcs. Lemon Grass (crushed and tied into a knot)

8 grams Salt

2 to 3pcs Mango (preferably Thai Mangoes or Mamuang)

For garnishes: (optional)

- toasted cashew nuts or toasted sesame seeds

- Coconut sorbet

-Mango sorbet

-Lime Zest

- coconut shavings

Procedures:

1. Soak the glutinous rice overnight in water covering 2 inches on top of it.

2. Replace the soaking water with a clean 200 ml. cold water, chuck the lemon grass in and bring to a boil stirring constantly to keep rice from sticking at bottom. When rice is soft and sticky, pour and fold 100 grams of the coconut milk and continue cooking for another 60 seconds.

3. Remove from heat and allow to cool down gently.

4. In separate sauce pan, make the coconut sauce by putting together the remaining coconut milk, salt and palm sugar. Bring to a gentle simmer and keep stirring until palm sugar is dissolved and the sauce reaches a syrupy consistency. Remove from heat and let it cool down.

5. Cut the mangoes as desired (depends on how you want to present it so it's time to be creative here)

To plate:

Scoop a desired amount of sticky rice. Put the mangoes on top and drizzle with that fantastic coconut sauce, Et Voila!

Now you can make it more interesting by adding some of the toppings I suggested above, but simple as it is, this dish is wonderful in its own way.

To describe, the flavor is a combination of Sweet and Salty plus that Asian signature of coconut flavor. I even saw some of the locals eat this with some red birds eye chili on top (I don't understand why but it is definitely out of my league).

I hope you enjoy reading my first blog and if you have any opportunity to try this at home, let me know about your experience.

Ciao!