KHAO NIAW (STICKY RICE)

Khao Niaw (Sticky Rice) image

Often the last thing people in the North and Northeast of Thailand do before bed is put raw grains of sticky rice in a pot, cover them with water, and leave them to soak. This is sticky rice country, and a day without sticky rice is almost unthinkable. Also called glutinous rice, it has a different starch composition than varieties like jasmine. I'm not qualified to explain the world of amylopectin and amylose starches, so suffice it to say that the glossy cooked grains of sticky rice are particularly chewy and stick to one another in clumps, yet still remain distinct. It's a magical thing. Served in baskets, either one per person or as a mountainous mound to be passed around, the grains of sticky rice form moldable masses. Practiced diners snatch off a gumball-size piece, reflexively fashion it into a sort of spoon shape, and use it to grab a taste of whatever else is on the table. In these baskets or in bamboo tubes, workers carry this rice with them into the fields and forests, a portable, edible eating implement. While you could argue that so-called "steamed jasmine rice" isn't steamed at all but rather boiled, sticky rice is actually steamed. In the Northeast, it typically goes into a bamboo basket; in the North, it's traditionally prepared in a clay pot with a perforated bottom, though today the pot is often aluminum. The basket or pot is set over a pot-bellied vessel filled with boiling water and the steam cooks the grains, already swollen from soaking, in just 15 minutes or so. The process is easy enough for uninitiated cooks. It just takes a little practice to get right.

Provided by Andy Ricker

Yield Serves 6 to 8, or 4 enthusiastic rice eaters; the recipe is easily doubled

Number Of Ingredients 4

Ingredients

A fine-mesh strainer
Cheesecloth or a clean mesh rice-steaming bag
An inexpensive sticky rice steamer set (both the woven basket and pot-bellied pot)
4 cups uncooked Thai sticky rice (also called "glutinous" or "sweet" rice)

Steps:

Put the sticky rice in a large bowl and add enough tepid tap water to cover by an inch or two. Let it soak for at least 4 hours or up to 10 hours (as long as it's not very hot in your kitchen; if you're in a hurry, you can get away with soaking it in hot tap water for as little as 2 hours).
Pour off the soaking water. Put the rice in a fine-mesh strainer set inside a large bowl. Fill the bowl with enough cool tap water to cover the rice by an inch or two. Use your hand to gently stir the rice, then lift the strainer from the bowl. The water in the bowl will be cloudy from the rice starch. Empty the water, set the strainer in the bowl again, and repeat the process until the water is, more or less, clear. You'll probably have to change the water two or three times. Drain the rice.
Pour enough water into the sticky rice steamer pot to reach a depth of about 2 inches. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Either add the rice to the mesh bag and put the bag in the basket or line the woven steamer basket with two layers of damp cheesecloth and dump the rice onto the cheesecloth. Fold the bag or cheesecloth so it covers the rice, pat the bundle so the rice is in a more or less even layer, and cover with a pot lid or clean, damp kitchen cloth, tucking it around the bundle.
Decrease the heat slightly to maintain a steady but not furious boil and set the basket into the pot. Cook until the grains are fully tender but still chewy (almost springy) and definitely not mushy, about 15 minutes. (Larger batches of sticky rice take about 20 minutes, and the rice bundle should be flipped over once halfway through the steaming process.)
Transfer the rice to a small cooler or large bowl covered with a plate. Wait about 15 minutes before digging in. The sticky rice will stay warm for an hour or so.
You can successfully reheat leftover sticky rice; cover and microwave on low, then eat it right away.