This was another recipe from Thai food by David Thompson. Chosen to accompany the lovely Green Chicken Curry this is described as
“traditionally served during Songkran (Thai New Year) festivities.”
Having read the recipe I must admit this has been adapted and for two reasons, the recipe asks for pandanus leaves which assists in giving the rice a fragrant flavor when steamed (I boiled my rice) and I forgot to buy enough palm sugar so substituted the remainder with light brown sugar.
When cooking I was rather excited as I am a fan of an old exercise favourite coconut rice as it was always simple and relatively cheap to make in the budgeting of when we had to cook for the soldiers in a field.
This however threw me slightly as when I was cooking the sugars and coconut cream together I sort of lost my nerve a little and thinks I actually stopped cooking the sugars out too soon. Next time I will cook longer and trust my experience and judgment.
Admittedly the dish actually was very nice. They rice cakes were soft with a little bite from the rice and an amazing sweetness to them. The coconut flavor was lovely as this came after the natural sweetness from the sugars.
I will be making these again for sure as the whole family really enjoyed them with some vanilla ice cream.
Caramelised Coconut Rice (kao niaw dtaeng guan)
Ingredients
- 600 g Arborio Rice
- 170 g Palm Sugar
- 330 g Light brown sugar
- 200 g coconut cream
- pinch of salt
- 2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Boil the rice in water until just cooked and the rice has a little bite to it.
- Heat the sugars and coconut cream in a heavy based saucepan. Once they have melted into the cream and bubbling lightly remove from the heat and add the pinch of salt.
- Add the rice and stir in until all covered. If you feel that you want to put on to the heat this can be done but only slightly, as the dish will catch and possibly burn easily.
- Place all of the rice cake in to a tray lined with cling film. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and allow chilling.
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