Black Sticky Rice Pudding

Glutinous rice or also known as a sticky rice is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast or East Asia. Beside the white variety, there’s another variety with a deep, dark purple colour. Despite the name, this rice contains no gluten. Although the rice has a dark-purple colour and not black, people called it black sticky rice. This black rice type usually eaten as a dessert, the rice boiled until soft then it served with coconut milk and palm sugar. Although using the same ingredients, but it can serve in a different way, in Thailand this usually eaten as a rice pudding while in Indonesia or Malaysia this often served in congee style (more watery almost like a thick soup).

I grew up eating this sweet congee style for breakfast or afternoon snack and my mum like to mix it up with mung bean. My mum usually cook this dessert in a big batch, we eat the warm congee for breakfast, then she cooling down the congee and put it in the fridge and I prefer to eat it cold than hot. I was amazed when I discovered there’s another version of this dessert from Vietnam, it called Sua Chua Nep Cam ( yoghurt with violet sticky rice), the nutty and sweet black rice combine with the sourness of yoghurt, what a unique combination. I was inspired by that Vietnamese dessert and making my own version with coconut yoghurt and caramelised pineapple, you can add an ice cube to make it refreshing.

Black Sticky Rice Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 cup black sticky rice
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 cup palm sugar
• 1 cup coconut milk
• a pinch of sea salt
• coconut yoghurt to serve

Caramelised Pineapple

• 1 small honey pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced into 2 cm thick
• 100 gr palm sugar

Direction

• Caramelised Pineapple: Place sugar in a saucepan and drizzle with a tablespoon of cool water. Cook on medium heat until it melts and starts to colour, then pick up the pan and swirl the sugar. Cook until the sugar is dark amber.
• Remove the pan from heat and tip in the butter (if you use butter) and cream. Return the pan to the heat, and cook until the caramel comes back to a boil and smooth. Add the pineapple slices and cook, stirring for about 5 minutes until the pineapple are tender and glazed in the caramel syrup.
• Rinse the rice and place it in a heavy bottomed saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and let it simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes until the grains are soft and most of the water has been absorbed, stirring occasionally.
• Add the sugar, salt and coconut milk and continue to simmer until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid, about 5-10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Spoon the black sticky rice into a serving bowl, top it with coconut yoghurt and caramelised pineapple.