Mangoes with Sticky Rice

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Photo by magical-world/flickr

Serves 6.

Ingredients

250 g/8 oz/1 1/4 cups white glutinous rice
250 ml/8 fl oz/1 cup canned coconut cream
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
few drops pandan essence
or strip fresh pandan leaf
2 or 3 ripe mangoes
extra thick coconut milk (optional)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Directions

Wash the rice, place in a bowl with water to cover and soak overnight. Drain off water and put rice in a heatproof bowl. Stir in the coconut cream and salt, sugar and pandan essence or strip of pandan leaf. Place bowl on a trivet in a pressure cooker with 5 cm (2 in) water in the pan. Bring to pressure and cook at half pressure for 30 minutes. Alternatively, steam the rice over boiling water for 1 hour or until rice is very tender and all the coconut milk absorbed. Leave to cool to room temperature.

Use an ice-cream scoop to make balls of the rice. Or press spoonfuls of rice into lightly oiled moulds, then unmould with a sharp tap on a hard surface. Arrange on serving plates. Use a sharp stainless steel knife to remove and discard a small slice from stem end of mango. Peel the fruit, then cut slices and place them alongside the sticky rice. Serve at room temperature. A tablespoon of thick coconut milk may be poured over the rice and a few toasted sesame seeds sprinkled over.

Recipe excerpted from Encyclopedia of Asian Food by Charmaine Solomon (Periplus Editions, 1998)