All posts filed under: Southeast Asian

Thai Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango (Khao Neeo Mamuang, from Thailand)

Published by

Thai Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango is a Southeast Asian dessert which combines rice, coconut milk, palm sugar or white sugar, and mango. The dish is simple and quick to make, but it does require care in buying ingredients and possibly learning a rice steaming technique which may be new to you — Thai sticky rice has cannot be cooked like other rices because if it touches any boiling water while it is cooking then it will get mushy. It is important to use Thai sticky rice, which is a special type of sticky or glutenous rice which is soaked in water overnight before being steamed over (not in) water, because the texture of this rice is an important part of this dish. Chinese glutenous / sweet rice is something different and cannot be used as a replacement. In order to make sure you are buying the correct type of rice, make sure your sticky rice was grown in Thailand or Laos (it may be marked as “sweet rice”). You will also need to plan ahead and soak …

Thai Sticky Rice

Published by

Thai sticky rice is used all over Thailand in desserts (e.g. Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango) and also eaten with main dishes in northern Thailand. When eaten with a meal, small bites of this rice are grabbed with the fingers and combined with a small piece of a non-saucy main dish (e.g. larb), fresh crisp side vegetables (cucumber, lettuce, etc), or chili relish. Since this rice is traditionally eaten with one’s fingers, it is usually eaten with dishes that are solid and not very saucy; it shouldn’t be used to soak up sauces (so for example, it does not go with curry). This type of rice is called sticky rice, glutenous rice, or sweet rice. There are numerous cultivars of glutinous rice (including japonica, indica, and tropical japonica strains, see wikipedia), but the other types of sticky rice cannot be used as a replacement for Thai sticky rice (e.g. Chinese glutenous / sweet rice is something different). Milled glutinous rice is white and fully opaque when raw and slightly translucent when cooked (whereas non-glutinous rice which is slightly translucent …

Dau Chua (Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickled Salad)

Published by

These lightly pickled carrots and daikon are a common Vietnamese salad. It is sometimes served as a small side salad to brighten dishes and can be used in banh mi or Vietnamese salad rolls. The daikon and carrots for this salad should be shredded so that they are about as thick as bean sprouts, i.e. they should be no thinner than 1/16 inches, and preferably be around 3/32 inches thick. They should have some crunch to them and be thick enough to stay mostly straight and only have a slight droop if you hold one up by its end. They should be thicker than vermicelli noodles; if you shred them too finely then they will tangle, have an unappealing hair-like texture, and not be crunchy. You don’t need to use your good vinegar for this. It is okay to substitute the rice vinegar for white vinegar or even apple cider vinegar. Source: Adapted from “Dau Chua (Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickled Salad)” from “Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia” by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. Also …