Mango with Sticky Rice

It's mango season now! You can enjoy it when ripe and sweet, or you can make smoothie, ice cream, sherbetand, and so on. For me, the best way to enjoy them is pairing it with sweet sticky rice, soaked up with coconut milk. This is an authentic Thai dessert enjoyed by Thais and foreigners.

In Thailand, the best kind of mango to use for this dish is the one called Flower Nactar (Nam Dok Mai). In the U.S., I found Ataulfo Mango, from Mexico, is the best substitute. It is quite sweet thought not as fragant as Thai mango.

The sweet sticky rice is made using long grain glutinous rice, also called Thai sweet rice. It is a kind of rice that becomes sticky when cooked, but has no gluten in it.

You will need:

• 2 cups uncooked glutinous rice
• 1 can (14 oz.) coconut milk (I use Aroy-D brand's "For Dessert")
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 ripe mango
• toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Directions:

1. Soak rice overnight, or at least about 4 hours. Drain and rinse.
2. Steam over medium-high heat in a steamer for 25-30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, gently heat up coconut milk, sugar, and salt, until dissolved. Keep warm.
4. When rice is cooked, spread out in a shallow bowl ,or baking pan. Set aside 1/3 cup of coconut milk mixture for topping later. Pour the rest of coconut milk over the rice, and fold gently to thoroughly mix. Cover and set aside for about 20 minutes to let the rice absorb the coconut milk.
5. Peel and slice mango just before serving. Spoon stricky rice and arrange mangoes on a plate. Drizzle some coconut milk mixture on top of sticky rice, and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds (couldn't find mine today so I used the toasted pecan bits). Enjoy!