STICKY RICE WITH MANGO

I can still remember the first time I tasted Thai food. My dad brought my brother and me to a Thai restaurant in Madison that some friends had taken him to, and although at first we complained about having to go and try a new cuisine, we left begging to come back. We loved the Pad Thai, of course, but the real treat was the sticky rice with mango that we had for dessert. The combination of warm coconut-flavored rice and cool mango is just absolutely amazing. Have you ever had it?! If you have, you're probably just as excited as I am about this post. I'll admit, this recipe isn't a perfect replication of the Thai restaurant-style mango and sticky rice that I'm obsessed with, but it's good enough for me to enjoy and forget my lack of Thai-cooking skills that often frustrates me. I just think it's funny how you can be so good at cooking certain types of cuisines and so poor at cooking others. I guess I'm not that bad... I just have really high expectations and probably no where near the right ingredients in my cupboard. But I've definitely found the right rice and rice-cooking method! The coconut flavoring is where I still have some internal debate. Sometimes I feel like the rice should be bathed in the coconut milk, sometimes I think the milk should just be drizzled on top... honestly, I think I need to go back to Madison and taste the sticky rice that started it all for me and then I'll know which method is really the way to go. But for now, I figured the more coconut flavor, the better! I'm headed to Madison July 4th so I may have an update to the post then!

sticky rice with mango

1 cup sticky (a.k.a. sweet) rice
1 can coconut milk
1/2 cup brown sugar (or just regular sugar will work!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 ripe mangos, peeled and sliced

Rinse rice and then soak in cold water for 1 hour or up to 1 day. Drain the rice using a fine-meshed sieve and place over a pot of simmering water (but don't allow the rice to be submerged in the water) Steam, covered, for 15 minutes. Stir the rice and steam, covered, for another 15 minutes. Taste to make sure that the rice is cooked completely before removing from the simmering water. While the rice is cooking, simmer the coconut milk with the sugar and sea salt to reduce to a heavy cream. When the rice is done, combine the rice and cream and let sit for about 20 minutes until the cream is completely absorbed. Pack into a flattened oval and serve with sliced mango on top.