Thai Purple Sticky Rice Pudding

Thai Purple Sticky Rice Pudding


Image by Stef Noble
This was inspired by a recipe in Gourmet, but it’s so simple that I’ll just give you some guidelines. The type of rice you use will have a lot to do with what sort of process you should follow. The original recipe called for black rice, but I found this Thai Purple Sticky Rice at Greenstar the other night and I couldn’t resist it. Brown rice will work too, but you may have to cook it longer. If you can find it, the purple rice is definitely worth it for the luxurious color and the interesting texture.

Essentially, one cup of rice is cooked with three cups water and 1/4 teaspoon salt for about 45 minutes to begin. I feel that the purple rice might not need quite as much, so I’m probably going to use 2-2.5 cups next time. You can always add more water if the rice starts to get too dry. You want the rice to be fairly soupy though, so just eyeball it as you see fit, whether you like the pudding thicker or thinner. Bring the mixture to a boil and then let it simmer with a tight-fitting lid on.

After 45ish minutes, stir in a half cup sugar, another pinch of salt, and not quite a full can of unsweetened coconut milk (you want to save some for drizzling later). Bring it to a boil again and then turn down to a simmer again, uncovered, until it thickens up. Take it off the heat and continue to stir every so often until the pudding cools to a warm temperature. Then, FINALLY, you can eat it, being sure to top with some of the remaining coconut milk.

My first attempt turned out very tasty, albeit a tad more soupy than I would prefer. The purple color would also be striking with the addition of some nice ripe mangoes.