You’ll find a popular dessert made with black sticky rice all over Southeast Asia. In America, you’ll usually find these desserts made with white sticky rice and paired with some tropical fruit, usually mangoes or papayas. However, the black sticky rice reigned supreme during my visit to Vietnam. I instantly fell in love with the salty & sweet flavor. Mixed with coconut milk and palm sugar, I had a dish that brought back memories of my childhood in Hawaii.
When I asked my Vietnamese and Thai friends about this dish, most said it was homemade. Something widespread, a thing most restaurants wouldn’t serve. Here in San Francisco, we’re lucky to have some of the most delicious and inventive foods around, but when it comes to getting authentic “home-cooked” meals, you might have to search a bit. So when I was craving this dish, I realized I would have to learn to make it myself. Thankfully, New May Wah in Richmond has everything a budding chef of Asian cuisine could hope for!
After picking up the necessary ingredients, I looked at a few recipes online. Most of them had the same steps for preparing the dish, so instead of following a particular recipe, I decided to Frankenstein my own version, using some of the skills I picked up in my cooking class in Bangkok. It’s quick and straightforward, so if you’re interested in duplicating this dessert, here’s what you’ll need.
Ingredients
- 1 cup glutinous black rice
- 1 box coconut milk (Aroy-D is yummy, IMO)
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ⅓ cup palm sugar (when I was in Thailand, my cooking instructor told me that PALM sugar was the way to go!)
- 3½ cups water
Instructions
THE NIGHT BEFORE: Wash the rice a few times until the water looks transparent, and then it soaks in water overnight. (If you can’t do it overnight, 6-8 hours is fine)
- Drain the rice and rinse once more before placing it into a small-medium pot.
- Add salt, sugar, and water to the pot and boil.
- Reduce heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer. You want most of the water to be absorbed. It should take about 1 1/2 – 2 hours. Just set a timer and keep checking so it doesn’t burn. Firmer = more water absorption; Softer = more water in the pot.
- Remove from heat and stir one cup of coconut milk into the mixture.
- While it’s still HOT: Scoop some mixtures into a serving bowl and top with additional coconut milk. For an extra treat, put a scoop of coconut ICE CREAM on top of it.
- Enjoy!
