Making Mango Sticky Rice at home is easier than you think! Sticky rice flavored with a sweet coconut sauce and served with delicious summer mangoes – there can’t be a better summer dessert!

Make it either using your Instant Pot or on stove-top.

The heat here has been crazy lately. Pacific north-west and broken some serious records over the last few days. I would have never imagine temperatures of 110 F here. We would hardly get into 90s during summer but this year has been so different.

Hopefully the heatwave is behind us and we will back to our regular “Seattle summer” now. Summer is all about fresh fruits and we can’t talk about summer fruits and not talk about mangoes! Since I have an abundance of sweet mangoes in my house right now, I have making all sorts of mango recipes from mango ice cream to mango shrikhand.

This Thai Mango Sticky Rice is another favorite of mine. There’s this small Thai restaurant close to my place and we absolutely love their mango sticky rice. They have it only during summers when mangoes are in season and sometimes we would go to their restaurant just to eat that.

We haven’t been to that Thai place in a while and with so many mangoes on hands, I had to make Mango sticky rice at home.

What is Mango Sticky Rice?

It’s a traditional Thai dessert made with sweet rice/glutinous rice also known as sticky rice. If has a very different appearance from your regular white rice varieties. Sarvesh thinks it looks like candied fennel that we eat in India after our meals. It’s very fragrant and so perfect to use in desserts.

Traditionally the rice is steamed and then soaked in a sweet and salty coconut sauce. It’s topped with more of that delicious coconut sauce and served with sweet mangoes and toasted sesame seeds (or mung beans).

Ingredients

The recipe requires only few ingredients and the most important one is the rice.

Glutinous Rice/Sweet Rice: you need only this variety of rice to make this recipe. There’s no substitution here. You can find sticky rice at Asian grocery stores or at your regular grocery store in the Asian food aisle. I just got it from my local grocery (QFC and I got butterfly brand). You can also find it on amazon.

Coconut Milk: so much of the flavor in this dessert comes from the coconut milk so it’s important you use a good tasting coconut milk. My choice would be Chaokoh or Aroy-D brands. Make sure it’s the unsweetened coconut milk. I like using the canned coconut milk.

Mangoes: the mangoes that are to be used in this recipe should be sweet. Use any sweet, ripe and non-stringy mangoes that you can find at your grocery stores.

Step by Step Instructions (Instant Pot)

1- Take 1 cup (205 grams) sweet rice in a bowl and rinse with cold water until water turns clear. I did this step of rinsing 6 to 7 times until the water was no longer cloudy.

2- Then drain the rice using a strainer. Do this step else rice might be left with more water which will have an impact on the final texture of the rice.

3- Now transfer it to a steel bowl (which would fit inside your instant pot) and add 2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon water (around 175 ml water). Stir so that all rice is under the water. Place the lid of bowl on top.

4- Now add 1.5 cups of water in the inner steel pot of your Instant Pot. Place a trivet (I use a long leg trivet that I bought separately and not the one that comes with Instant Pot) and then place the rice bowl on top of that trivet. You can make an aluminum sling (by folding a long piece of aluminum foil for easy lifting of the bowl). Close the lid and press the manual or pressure cook button. Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes and then release the remaining pressure manually.

5- While the rice cooks, take 2/3 cup coconut milk in a pan on medium heat. Add 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely and the mixture is warm. Set aside.

6- Once the rice has cooked, unlock the lid and carefully take out the steel bowl from the instant pot (I use a pair of gripper clips that I have or you can use the aluminum sling if made that). Transfer the prepared sauce into a large bowl, make sure it’s warm when you transfer it to the bowl. Now add the hot cooked rice into the bowl.

7- Using a spatula, mix until all the rice and the coconut sauce until well combined. It might look a little liquid-y at this point but the rice will soak up all the sauce. Cover and leave it for around 45 minutes for the rice to soak all the flavor.

8- Once it’s close to 45 minutes and it’s about time to serve the dessert, make the coconut sauce that you would drizzle on top. To a pan on medium heat, add 1 cup coconut milk, 3 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir to combine until the sugar melts.

9- Once the mixture is little warm and sugar has dissolved, take 2 tablespoons of the sweetened coconut milk from the pan into a small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon cornstarch and and mix until you have a smooth paste.

10- Add this cornstarch slurry back into the pan and stir continuously. The mixture will begin to thicken immediately. Remove pan from heat once your sauce has reached desired thickness. You can add more coconut milk to thin it out as per your preference.

11- To slice the mango, first remove the skin using a peeler or knife. Then cut from either side of the mango pit/stone. Then slice each piece into 4-5 smaller pieces.

12- To serve, place the sweetened rice on the serving plate and then add mango slices on top. Drizzle with the prepared thickened coconut sauce on top. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Stove-top Method To Cook The Rice

1- To cook rice on stove-top, first rinse the rice with cold water until water turns clear. I did this around 6 to 7 times until water was clear. Then soak it in around 3 cups of water overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours.

2- In the morning, drain the water using a strainer. Let the rice drain on the strainer for few minutes until the water has all drained out. Then transfer it to a muslin cloth and spread a little. Bring the edges of the muslin cloth together to cover the rice.

3- Heat a steamer until the water below is nice and boiling. Then place the rice wrapped in muslin cloth on the steamer. Cover and steam for around 20 to 25 minutes on medium heat.

4- Remove carefully from the steamer. The rice will be cooked perfectly by now. Follow rest of the steps to make sticky rice as it is.

Serving Options & Storing Leftovers

This is one dessert which has to eaten immediately. It’s best eaten on the same day preferably within few hours of when it’s made. You can store leftover rice in the fridge but it will harden as a rock in the fridge.

If you have stored leftover- maybe try steaming the rice again to soften it up and also make some more of the coconut sauce and add to it to loosen it up a bit. You can try microwaving it, cover in a damp cloth and then microwave it.

Tips & Notes

• You have to use sweet rice/sticky rice/glutinous rice only for this recipe. Please do not make it with any other rice. You can find it in the Asian aisle of your grocery store or order online.
• The coconut cream should be a nice balance of sweet and salty. You can adjust the salt and sugar to taste.
• Serve this dessert immediately. It’s best eaten with in hours of making it.
• I have given the instructions for both- stove top which is the traditional way and instant pot. I think they both come our great. If you are going to steam it, you have to prep in advance and soak overnight. Instant Pot is quicker, I understand it’s not the traditional way.