Thai Black Sticky Rice Pudding with Coconut Sauce

• servings: 4 servings
• active time: 3 hours 10 minutes
• total time: 3 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

½ cup (120 ml) Thai black glutinous rice, soaked in water for 3 hours (see note 1)

2 Tbsp (30 ml) Thai white glutinous rice, soaked in water for 3 hours

2 cups (480 ml) room temp water

Half a pandan leaf (about 9 inches), optional

½ cup (100 g) finely chopped palm sugar, or to taste (see note 2)

¼ tsp table salt

⅓ cup (80 ml) taro root, cut in 1 cm cubes

¼ cup (60 ml) young coconut meat, cut into short strips

½ cup (120 ml) canned longans in syrup, drained and halved

¼ cup (60 ml) sweet corn kernels

½ cup (120 ml) coconut milk

⅛ tsp table salt

1 tsp (5 ml) rice flour, or ½ tsp cornstarch.

Directions

Drain off the soaking water and add the rice to a small pot. Add 2 cups of room temp water, and if using the pandan leaf, tie it into a knot to bruise and shorten, then add it to the rice pot. Bring the rice to a boil, then reduce the heat down to maintain a simmer. After about 15 minutes, you need to stir it frequently as the rice will be thick enough at this point to stick to the bottom and burn without enough stirring.*If the water dries up before the rice is done, add a splash of water, little at a time. Do not add too much water all at once as you do not want to end up with a watery pudding in the end.

While the rice is cooking, prepare your add-ins

If using taro, add them to a small pot and cover with plenty of cold water and a pinch of salt. Bring the water to a boil and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the taro can be poked through with a fork easily; be careful not to overcook the taro or it will fall apart. Drain and set aside. Other add-ins listed can be added in as-is.

After about 25-30 minutes,

the rice should be done and the pudding should look thickened. Check doneness by tasting the rice; it should be tender and a little chewy, but not crunchy. If the pudding doesn't look thickened, i.e. the liquid surrounding the rice grains still looks runny, it means the white rice has not broken down enough yet. In this case keep cooking and stirring it for a few minutes longer.

Once the rice is done, add the palm sugar and the salt

and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Turn off the heat and stir in the add-ins of your choice. Let the pudding cool a bit before serving so it is just warm and not too hot. While you wait you can make the sauce.

For the salted coconut sauce

Add the coconut milk and the salt to a small pot. Dissolve the rice flour in a tablespoon or so of water, stir until there are no more clumps and add this slurry to the coconut milk. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Once it boils you can remove from the heat. It will thicken a bit after it boils, and will continue to thicken once cool.

Serve the rice pudding warm

, with the coconut sauce drizzled on top. Enjoy!