thai black sticky rice and coconut cream recipe

im just sharing my own recipes here because i forget them sometimes, just stuff thats worked for me that i took from a site that hasn't quite worked as well, whatev hacks. just a side note, i always feel like little personal run blogs always have the best recipes because its tried and true, the official ones are always garbage. 

disclaimer: not a professional chef and catered entirely to my personal preferences so you might hate this. 

i first tried the black sticky rice with mango at my old work place, and it was genuinely so tasty. I love that chewy rice (a huge fan of sticky rice just in general tbh), with that sweetness of the coconut cream - tho I admit, i'm not crazy about the mango. I'd rather have it on its own. Most places have seemed to just gotten rid of black sticky rice off their menus, which is a real pain for me, and one of them made it with a thai custard as well. I personally just love the simple, rice + sauce combo, so here we go. 

ingredients 

• white sticky rice 
• purple sticky rice (thai) 
• coconut cream (milk works too) 
• water 
• sugar (depends what flavor you like, can be brown, cane/rock or white whatever) 
• salt 

process + key points 

1. Rinse and soak the rice. 

How much is really up to you - but I would recommend at least half and half for the white and purple rice to make up a cup. I've made this before with JUST purple sticky rice but I noticed that you need some white rice to really get that extra sticky. I personally like the mixture of both, although the ratio is really up to you. When measuring out how much you want - Remember, the rice will also expand when its soaking, so you can go under the measurement and still make it up. 

Rinse with any type of water you want, tho if you're in a hurry you can always rinse and soak with hot water (anywhere between the ballpark of 70-100C will speed it up). Hot water will be fine with 3-4 hours, but if you're using cold water aim for 6-8 hours. You can soak it overnight in the fridge too if you're lazy. 

1 cup can usually feed 2 people. but idk, your milage may vary if ya really hungry. 

Also make sure you're buying THAI black sticky rice and not Taiwanese purple sticky rice because they can look the same but do not taste the same. Very different. 

2. Cook the rice. 

A lot of debate about how to cook the rice on those recipe places. Most of them will give you like three options between saucepan, rice cooker and steamer. I would assume that steaming the rice is probably the best way to do it - but it's pretty difficult if you don't have the required tools. 

I personally prefer the rice cooker - Most of the time I'd tried cooking rice in a saucepan and while of course, its the one you go to if you don't have a steamer or a rice cooker, and it gets the job done well enough, but I find that the rice ends up being way too soggy and cooked through too much (or not enough). It's very hit or miss, but with a rice cooker it's never failed for me. 

For saucepan - do 1 cup rice to 2 cups water as the evaporation happens a bit faster, especially if you're not putting a lid on. 

For rice cooker - 1 cup rice to 1 cup water is fine - tho I would say you can add just a little bit of water. 

Once the rice is finished cooking - turn off the heat and make sure you leave it to sit there for like 29-30 minutes to soak in. Some people add the coconut sauce during this step, do whatever makes you happy. 

Some people like to mix in coconut cream/milk and sugar during the cooking of the rice, but if you cook them separately you can also have the rice with a normal meal, or pack it away for another day. Purple rice also has a lot of fibre and can be pretty healthy so its nice to get that sugar free alternative. 

3. While the rice is cooking - Make the coconut cream/milk sauce. 

You can use coconut cream or milk for this depending on what kind of texture you prefer. Coconut cream has a higher fat content and is thicker, and milk is the thinner version. Both will do, so don't freak out if you got the wrong type. If you'd like a thicker version, I'd recommend reducing it on a stove. 

Take out your pan and measure out about, how much sauce you want. I like a lot of it, but I typically just eyeball how much I think I'll need. Let's just work with half a cup for this recipe - around 120 ml. 

I pour it directly into the saucepan, and warm it up on the stove - go for a medium heat where you've got it slightly bubbling enough to melt sugar and salt but not at boiling, but you wanna see a smidge of reduction going on to thicken it up a little. 

Add salt! Do not be afraid of the salt - I'd recommend half a teaspoon because it really brings out the coconutty taste. It does go a little savoury but once you mix it with the rice it's actually pretty good. 

Now add the sugar. I go for about 3 tablespoons, but you can definitely go for more. I've had cases where I've added like, a LOT of sugar and no salt and the taste is not as good and can leave your mouth feeling a little funny, but with more salt, it can be really nice. I usually use white sugar as its the most accessible, and that's usually fine. Just make sure you're regularly tasting as you adjust the taste for this. 

Make sure everything is melted and a little thick, and take that off the heat. Make sure you're saving enough of this to top on the rice if you're also planning to mix some into the rice. 

4. After the rice is cooked - mix a bit of coconut cream into the rice. 

This depends on the day. I find that a little amount will do, but sometimes I've added about half a cup of cream into the rice and just reduced it. For this recipe, I'll encourage adding in 3-4 tablespoons of coconut cream, and also adding in additional sugar. The rice can be a little weird tasting without any sugar or salt in it, but if you add too much coconut cream you can end up with a very watery dessert. 

I recommend eyeballing this to the way it looks 'right' to you, but make sure the sugar is melted if you're directly adding into the rice. Again, you don't really need that much. 

If you are going to mix this in - I'd do it immediately after the rice is finished cooking so it really soaks in the rest of the flavor. Make sure you've saved enough coconut sauce to top the rice tho. 

5. Serve. A bowl of rice, topped with a good amount of coconut cream. 

That's all there is to it! 

It's kinda stupidly complex with all the unwritten rules about how exactly to get the right ratios and how to mix what and how, so after having made this for bloody months, i'd say this is my recipe on how to get the best black sticky rice + coconut cream dessert. 

I've also tried to make this with the least amount of sugar possible while still staying true to the taste - but you can definitely add more if you need.