Super easy to make and with only a handful of ingredients, mango sticky rice is an Eastern Asian staple dessert that is elevated with the subtle flavor of pandan in this recipe! The soft creamy glutinous rice is absorbed in a sweetened coconut pandan sauce. The addition of sliced mangoes makes it refreshing at the same time. Since it is AAPI month, I thought of sharing this recipe to celebrate my heritage. Did I mention this dessert is also vegan and gluten-free?!
Ingredients you need for this recipe:
- Thai sweet rice: Thai sweet rice also comes with many names labeled such as “sticky rice”, “sweet rice” or “glutinous rice”. It becomes very sticky once cooked because of its high amylopectin and low in amylose starch. Moreover, it is commonly used in Vietnamese, Cambodian and Thai desserts.
- Pandan juice: Pandan juice is derived from the pandan leaves; its fragrant extract is commonly used in Southeast Asian desserts. In fact, most of the desserts I grew up with had some kind of pandan flavor. It is pretty much the equivalent of vanilla extract in the Western world. Nowadays, you can find concentrated pandan extract at most Asian grocery stores. However, living in America, I have yet to find an extract that is not made with artificial flavors or colors. Therefore, I make my own pandan juice extract, which is easy to make and the taste is not even comparable to the artificial extract you’d find out there! This is what I used for this recipe and you can find out how to make your own extract here. You can find pandan leaves fresh or in the frozen section, at most Asian grocery stores.
- Mangoes: My favorite mangoes, especially to serve with this dessert is the yellow mango or also called Ataulfo mango. It has a sweet honey flavor that matches perfectly with the ligthly sweetened pandan sticky rice. However, you can use any mangoes that you prefer for this recipe.
HOW TO MAKE MANGO PANDAN STICKY RICE
First, rinse your sweet rice until the water becomes clear and fill the rice with water to soak it for a few hours, ideally overnight. This step needs to be done in order for the rice to cook and absorb moisture evenly. Once the rice is ready to be steamed, drain with a sieve.
In a steam basket lined with parchment paper/cheesecloth, or bamboo steamer basket, cook sweet rice until soft – about 25-35 minutes. Make sure the bottom pot is always filled with at least 1 inch of water at all times with boiling water, without touching the steam basket.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan on low heat, whisk in coconut cream, pandan juice, sugar and salt until combined and sugar has dissolved.
Once the rice is steamed, stir in ¼ cup of the sweet coconut pandan sauce, one tablespoon at a time, and mix to coat the rice. Let the rice sit for about 5-10 minutes for the rice to fully absorb the sauce. If you are not planning on serving right away, cover the rice and you can leave it at room temperature up to 3 hours.
To serve: Plate with a scoop of warm sticky rice, add sliced mangoes and drizzle some sweet coconut pandan sauce. Garnish with sesame seeds (optional).
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I store leftovers? You can definitely store the rice in the fridge covered up to 2 days. After that, the rice will dry up and hardens. As for the pandan coconut sauce, it can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 5 days.
Can other types of rice be used for this recipe? For best results, I recommend to use Thai glutinuous rice as the grains are long with a fragrant floral scent and is used to make desserts. This type of rice is not the same as jasmin rice or sushi rice. Furthermore, I would not recommend using Japanese sweet rice as a substitution because it will not yield the same texture. Japanaese sweet rice is a short grain rice that is reserved to make Japanese desserts such as mochi.
If you enjoyed this Mango Pandan Sticky Rice recipe, check out my other delicious Asian desserts!
Pandan Chiffon Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting
Moreover, if you’ve tried this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can let me know how it went by commenting in the comments section below and don’t forget to leave a rating!
Equipment
- Steamer basket
- Small saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 cup (225g) dry glutinous sticky rice rinsed and soaked overnight
- 1-5.5 oz can (160ml) coconut cream
- ⅓ cup (80ml) pandan juice
- ⅓ cup (65g) white granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 3-4 yellow mangoes peeled and sliced
- optional: sesame seeds to garnish
Instructions
- Rinse sweet rice until the water becomes clear and soak overnight.
- In a steam basket lined with parchment paper/cheesecloth, or bamboo steamer basket, cook sweet rice until soft – about 25-35 minutes. Make sure the bottom pot is always filled with at least 1 inch of water at all times with boiling water, without touching the steam basket.
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan on low heat, whisk in coconut cream, pandan juice, sugar and salt until combined and sugar has dissolved.
- Once the rice is steamed, stir in ¼ cup of the sweet coconut pandan sauce, one tablespoon at a time, and mix to coat the rice. Let the rice sit for about 5-10 minutes for the rice to fully absorb the sauce. If not serving right away, cover rice and leave it at room temperature up to 3 hours.
- To serve: Plate with a scoop of warm sticky rice, add sliced mangoes and drizzle some sweet coconut pandan sauce. Garnish with sesame seeds (optional).
