Mangoes and Sticky Rice

(4 Servings)

Sweet Sticky Rice

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Before cooking sticky rice, it must first be washed. Rinse the rice in a strainer until the water is clear. Traditional wisdom in Thailand is that it takes three washings to properly clean the dust off the rice.
• Here’s the tricky part: the rice must be soaked overnight (in other words, about eight hours or more) before cooking.
• Next, sticky rice must be steamed, not boiled, so you cannot use a traditional rice cooker unless it has a strainer to keep the water separated from the rice. You also get the best results if the rice is a uniform depth when cooking. I’ve gotten my best results using a round cake pan with a mesh bottom placed in a vegetable steamer. The pan allows the rice to be smoothed to an even depth, while the mesh bottom allows the steam through without letting the rice fall out. Steam the rice about 20 minutes.
• While the rice is cooking, stir together the sugar and coconut cream. It helps dissolve the sugar if you warm the coconut cream for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave before stirring in the sugar.
• As soon as the rice is cooked, transfer it to a large bowl and pour the sweet coconut cream over it. Stir it to mix and let it set. If you seem to have too much liquid, strain the mixture to remove the excess.
• I think this dish is best when the rice is still just a little bit warm.

Coconut Cream

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Heat the coconut cream over low heat, then stir in the rice flour and salt. Keep stirring until the mixture begins to thicken, then stir in the sugar. Remove from heat as soon as the sugar is dissolved.

Now, to put it all together, you’ll need the above items plus two ripe mangoes and (optionally) some puffed yellow mung beans (these have a taste and texture like puffed rice, which you could probably use in a pinch).

• Peel the mangoes then cut the meat lengthwise off either side of the large central pit. Further cut the mango into bit-sized pieces and arrange on a plate.
• Spoon some of the sweet sticky rice onto the plate next to the mango.
• Drizzle some of the coconut cream over the rice and the mangoes, then sprinkle some of the mung beans over the rice.

A basket of ripe yellow mangoes at the wholesale market in Chiang Mai

All mangoes have more or less the same flat tear-drop shape. The thing I’m always fascinated with about the mango is the wide flat pit that extends to just below the skin. The flesh of the mango is built up on either side of the pit rather than spread evenly around it as with most other fruits with a core, such as apples, guavas and pears. As one cheeky author of Wikipedia put (before being removed), "Some people believe that the safest way to eat a mango is in the bathtub, or sitting naked on a deserted beach, or even on top of a mango tree itself." Indeed, fresh ripe yellow mangoes are a rather messy affair to peel and slice.

The most popular yellow mangoes have a short season, with the best fruits available only from about March to May, although in recent years various tricks have been employed to extend this to the point where some form of yellow mangoes are available year around. These will be eaten fresh, with the most popular and traditional method being fresh cut mangoes served with sweet sticky rice. At the height of the yellow mango season in May, Chiang Mai holds a Mango Fair in Buak Hat park at the south-western corner of the old city. There’s lots of mango eating of course, and no festival would be complete without a Mango Queen.

"Fresh picked" green mangoes on sale.

Green mangoes are available for a longer season, from as early as October up to May. Green mangoes generally have a tart taste with a crispy texture. They can be quite similar to green apples in both taste and texture; and like green apples, if you eat too many you will be sure to get a tummy ache. Green mangoes are eaten fresh, sometimes with a sticky brown sweet and salty sauce. Green mangoes also find their way into salads and other savory recipes.

The variety of mangoes available in Thailand points to the fact that the fruit originated in South and South-East Asia. They have obviously been cultivated for quite some time. The Hindu Vedas, written about 4000 B.C., refers to mangoes as "the food of the gods" and Buddha was presented with a mango grove in which to rest. The word mango comes from a Portuguese corruption of the Tamil word for the fruit, man-kay. The curved tear-drop shape of mangoes is said to be the inspiration for the paisley pattern in Indian textiles. From Asia, the colonial powers spread mangoes throughout the world. Today, mangoes are said to be the most widely eaten fresh fruit in the world. Mangoes contain significant amounts of vitamins A, B and C.