sticky rice

[jenn]

Last Sunday in the midst of preparing our lunar new year feast, I observed we were low on rice. YEGADS! so I sent my husband to the local asian market to buy rice. When he returned, he tossed a 25 lb bag of rice off to the side and gleefully presented me with a Tsingtao t-shirt with an ox and 5 pairs of bright red tsingtao chopsticks. Having enough rice for that meal, I didn't look at the rice.

The next day, as I loaded my beloved fuzzy logic rice cooker with congee makings [leftover fish FYI], I opened the new bag of rice. YARK! To my dismay, it didn't contain my lovely translucent jasmine rice. No, this was white ish rice.....lots and lots. I take a quick look at the bag and it clearly states "sweet rice." Seems dear husband was sooo very excited the t-shirts and chopsticks [but NOT the pretty girls, okay? he made it very clear that he was NOT distracted by the pretty girls.........], he failed to look at what he bought.

So here we sit, with 25 pounds of sticky rice. On the bright side, the most rice picky of the pups [the one who says brown rice and sushi rice are NOT rice] seems to like sticky rice.

But what do I serve it with? I have Alford/Duguid's Seductions of rice and HotsourSaltySweet as a starter for dishes to serve with sticky rice--any other thoughtS

Even more importantly, do I really need to soak it for 12-24 hours to make it taste best? And is it possible to cook it in the beloved fuzzy logic rice cooker instead of a basket on the stove? The fuzzy has a setting for sweet rice but I've never tried it. If you can cook it in a rice cooker, do you still have to soak it?

If it were just me and husband home alone, I'd experiment cookingwise but we have 3 pups and they don't deal so well with "whoops, well that didn't work out, lets just have wine and cheese for dinner tonight"

all thoughts appreciated...............

[kobetobiko]

Another idea: Use your rice cooker and cook the sticky rice to almost fully cooked. Stir and spread the rice slightly to release the steam. Then transfer the rice to deep dish, layer the rice at the bottom, top with fresh whole crab or lobsters ( cut up into pieces) and LOTS of garlic and scallion. Steam for another 10 minutes or until the seafood is cooked.

All the juice from the crabs or lobsters will get absorbed to the sticky rice. The rice is so good that you will almost forget about the crabs and lobsters.

[luckyfatima]

omg kobetobiko i am totally gonna hafta try that! That sounds amazing!

[kobetobiko]

Hi luckyfatima,

I love this dish. I found a picture online to show you how it looks like:
http://orderinny.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/danny-ngs/

The google search also located a recipe, but I have never tried this recipe myself. Just want to include it as reference:
http://www.saveur.com/article/Food/Cr...
(This recipe uses blue crabs, but you can also use dungeneous crabs. I tend to include garlic and scallions to top the crabs when steaming.)

[Dax]

Are you using a bamboo steamer for the last step?

[kobetobiko]

Hi Dax,

Bamboo steamer simply looks nicer on table but it is not necessary. A dish with depth (to hold the rice) will be just as good.

[Sam Fujisaka]

The rice looks more like Japanese glutinous rice than Lao Thai sticky rice.

[kobetobiko]

Sam,

I tend to use Chinese glutinous rice but Japanese is certainly fine. In fact I tend to mix in a little jasmine rice into it to give it more fragrance and reduce the starchness (hence heaviness) of the dish.

Some restaurants will mix black glutinous rice with white for "twin rice"

[luckyfatima]

I actually had a similar dish a few times at a Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant in Houston but it was wrapped in Lotus leaf so I never thought I could try such a thing myself. Now I am definately gonna try it! Thanks so much!

[jenn]

note to self: this concept does not work so well with mussels...........

[jenn]

oooooo, youngest pup has a thing for "crabbies"---boy wouldn't he get a kick ouf of this.

Do you think it would also finish off nicely in a hot oven?

[kobetobiko]

oh no oven. Sticky rice will get burnt and "tough" in oven. Steaming is the best.

[NYCkaren]

The idea of having 25 lbs. of any kind of rice is daunting. It would take me years to use it up.

[Sam Fujisaka]

You didn't grow up in a house where the 100 lb sack was the norm. And it had to be replaced not all that infrequently.

[paulj]

Or a house with an automatic rice dispensing machine :) OK, I don't think you can program them to dispense rice at given time of the day, but there appears to be some sort of precision quantity control. So far I've only treated them as a curiosity, along with the fuzzy logic rice cookers and hot water pots. I haven't moved past the sandpot aisle. :)

[jenn]

hot water pots are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! can't imagine life without one.

you know, if you have the slightest interest in trying such a thing, Now is the time to shop as all that stuff goes on sale for lunar new year.

[jenn]

you know, if we could figure out a good place to store a 100lb sack of rice, it wouldn't be such a bad idea. But as it is, storing the 25lb bags is enough of a challenge.

We have a rice dispenser---called a "rice tank." It holds about 20 lbs [i think] and has three buttons to push depending on how much rice you are cooking. Of course, it measures for standard rice-on-stove cooking and we pretty much only use the fuzzy.

[Sam Fujisaka]

My folks always had the 100 lb sack of rice in a galvanized garbage can right out the kitchen door to the garage. Mom used the rice pot I use now unitl she gave it to us when I went off to grad school with my first wife.

[jenn]

AH HA! there you go---no garage but a fine front porch. I think I will suggest that to husband......how does it work in summer? any buggy [or, given where we live, sluggy] problems?

[Sam Fujisaka]

That was in Fresno where winters got cold and damp and summers up to 118 F. Never a problem. The rice was in the original sack, the sack in the tightly closed never used as a garbage can garbage can. There were slugs and various insect pests in our gardens but nothing ever got to the rice.

[alanbarnes]

http://www.amazon.com/Iris-Air-Tight-...

Now all you have to do is find a home for it ...

[alanbarnes]

We only buy 25# bags, but we get them in multiple varieties: short grain, medium grain, jasmine, and basmati.

[ricepad]

Around the ricepad pad, once we get down to 25 lbs of rice, we know it's almost time to restock!

[tastesgoodwhatisit]

My Japanese fiance washes the rice first - scrubbing it with some water - to remove some of the excess starch. Then he does it in the rice cooker right away, no soaking required. Rinse the rice paddle in some water before using, and fluff the rice well before cooking. The leftovers can be used to make Chinese style fried rice.

Sticky rice also makes great rice porridge, a standard Asian breakfast food, or good comfort food. Cook the rice in a pot in about twice the regular amount of liquid - a light chicken stock works well - until it turns into a thick porridge. Serve with diced chicken or seafood, and or some chopped green onions and sesame oil. Alternately, top with fish floss and have for breakfast.

[shallots]

I've got to ask, what's fish floss?

[ipsedixit]

Dehydrated fish.

Usually it's pork floss, but some prefer the fish variety.

See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rousong

[Louise]

It looks like brown lint. At least one of my local Chinatown stores stocks it. I've made the fish variety in a cooking class. Delicious, but quite a bit of effort to prepare at home.

[ipsedixit]

Floss (either pork or fish) is like Cheetos.

If you want some, much easier and better to just buy them. Making them at home just isn't worth the effort, or time.

[jenn]

hmmm, typically I use reg rice for my congee/jook but I will have to give the sticky rice a try. However, I have never had good luck with only 2x as much water---always need at least 3 times or more.

[shallots]

Blush.
I have never, ever rinsed sticky rice.
Am I going to culinary hell?

[jenn]

isn't that really a question of what rice you buy, or perhaps more, where you buy? The stuff I get in giant bags at the 99 ranch doesn't seem to need any rinsing---when I do rinse it the water I toss off is pretty clean. But the rice I get at the co-op---which is also long grain jasmine rice---needs a lot of rinsing before the water is clear.

that said, i have read in some of my asian cookbooks that rinsing rice was created by mothers as a way to occupy children and make them feel productive.......

[Sam Fujisaka]

Rice had to be washed long ago because the talc used to keep away weevils contained a bit of asbestos. Stomach cancer rates were high in Japan at that time.

[shallots]

Sam,
Dang it, I'm old enough that I remember reading one of the papers that linked stomach cancer to hot rice in Japan in Science decades ago. The incidence of stomach cancer was higher in those who ate hot rice than those who ate later and had cold rice. The talc used then was just mentioned in the article, and asbestos IS a common component of the complex metamor\phic rock talk (I didn't know the weevil connection.)
Thanks for the key that linked my then memories to my now cooking.

[Louise]

Dessert:

http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/stickrice.html

Stuffing for chicken. Doesn't actually have to be boneless:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/279828#1485280

How to cook it and ideas to serve it:

http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/ingr...

BTW, it is *not* the same as sushi rice. Sushi rice is stickier than other rices, but it is Not The Same As Sweet/Glutinous Rice. Every time I hear that I have to fight a temptation to rant. They're not the same!

[jenn]

thanks so much for all the links and help........

[Richard 16]

Sekihan - Japanese sticky rice with adzuki beans (azuki). Lots of recipes on the web. Coat or dip into black or regular sesame seeds. The beans give the rice a beautiful hue.

Soaking is indeed important, but that's a long time. Maybe 3 hours, rinse, and re-soak maybe 30 minutes to an hour. Since the rice is soaked you use less water.

Adzuki beans are a little sweet and have protein. Delicious. You can use other beans (such as turtle), but the adzuki beans are perfect.

[arifa]

in addition to the aforementioned mangoes and sticky rice, you can indeed just make it in the fuzzy logic rice cooker without soaking first. i always rinse it LOTS to make sure the water is really clear, then add water up to the appropriate line of the ol' zojirushi and cook on the "sweet" rice setting. it comes out GREAT! you could just eat it with any kind of asian vegetables i'd think.

[jenn]

AH HAH!!!! we have the zojirushi rice cooker as well---thank you sooooooo much---in a burst of "lets get organized" my husband [the one who came home with 25 lbs of sticky rice......] took all the instruction books for all the appliances ---including both the zojirushi AND the soy milk maker-- and put them all together in one safe place.....
. . somewhere...
.. . .in the house, he assures me...
...a really good place......

[thew]

my zojirushi has no such setting :(

[jenn]

boo hooo.

you know, its still sort of spring festival....maybe its time to buy a new zojirushi on sale.......

[bear]

That's a lot of sticky rice! Here is a recipe for thai coconut mango sticky rice. I love this one because it has a nice balance of salty and sweet, and of course the combo of mango and coconut is perfect with the nutty flavor and great texture of the rice.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

[luckyfatima]

I make it in the microwave in a flat-ish dish/tray. You just pour enough water on to cover the rice, seal well with plastic wrap, cook on high for 4 minutes, then take it out of the microwave, fluff, recover, repeat, then do the same for a 3rd time. In total it needs about 12 minutes or 3 cycles of cooking.

Use the left overs for rice pudding. You can also learn to make some types of stuffed rice wrapped in leaves---banana or lotus, (it's New Year's food!) like Vietnamese banh chung or some other Chinese, Thai, Malay versions.

I actually prefer having my Thai food with sticky rice.

Edit: I just read the sticky rice wiki, it has loads of suggestions. The Chinese ba bao fan would be good too.

Gosh please don't feed it to the dogs unless it is your leftovers.

[jenn]

"Gosh please don't feed it to the dogs unless it is your leftovers"

but the chow pups LIKE sticky rice.......and if you only feed them leftovers, eventually they tell the teacher in school and you get in trouble......; )

[Dax]

Luckyfatima, was that last part a joke? When Jenn refers to her"chowpups," she means her children; since posters here are referred to as chowhounds, little chowhounds are thus chowpups.

[PAO]

wow, 25 lb is a lot. Mangoes and sticky rice. Mochi . . ..

[chowser]

Mmmm, sticky rice is comfort food. My mom's new method for making it is in the microwave and it's just as good as a long soak or steamed.

http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Sticky_Rice.htm

With 25 pounds, if you're looking for recipes, you can do a Taiwanese sticky rice, kind of like fried rice, only better.

http://www.geocities.com/emaildaneng/stickyrice.html

With more time, you can make this:

http://littleguykitchen.blogspot.com/...

Oh...now I want some of that.

[dfrostnh]

Thanks for posting the Thai Table site. The recipes look great and I'm looking forward to trying some. I like the way it explains the ingredients.

[paulj]

http://importfood.com/stickyrice.html
illustrates cooking this rice in a steamer basket.

I've had good results cooking the black sticky rice (whole grain) in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes without soaking.

[Sam Fujisaka]

How timely. Just today I bought five lbs of Three Rings "sweet" rice here in DC to take back to Colombia. This is Sanpatong, my favorite Thai / Lao sticky rice. Sticky rice is not sweet, is NOT sushi rice, is NOT mochi rice, is NOT Japanese rice (although it is a low amylose Japonica rather than Indica rice). It does need to be soaked overnight and then steamed. Serve with laab, Lao BBQ chicken, Lao - Thai beef salad, Lao sausage, and green papaya salad.

[kpaumer]

Sounds like a Lao banquet feast to me, Yummy

[kpaumer]

Sam, You're a man who knows his food, Where do you eat while in DC? I am only two hours away, point me someplace good!

[Sam Fujisaka]

Funny! You have to ask the DC people. When I go to DC I get a great suite hotel and shop at SafeWay and Giant Foods and cook lots of the ingredients that I can't get in Colombia. I hardly eat out. I have friends over a couple of times as well. Sausages & kraut, more complex Mexican, full Japanese now and then, maybe Italian. I get to buy wines and Jim Beam that I can't get for any price at home. Good eating and drinking, but not good for the local restaurant economy.

[goodhealthgourmet]

another Hound requested help with sweet brown rice a few days ago, and i directed him/her to the link - with recipes - on the Lundberg Farms website...

http://www.lundberg.com/products/rice...

white vs. brown doesn't really matter, so hopefully you'll find some good ideas there. you could also do traditional mango sticky rice, and if you Google "sweet rice" recipes you'll get a ton of hits.

re: preparation, you don't *have* to steam it in the traditional basket. it might turn out best that way, but give the "sweet rice" setting on your rice cooker a shot & see how it goes.

[billieboy]

I have never even heard of sweet rice, so I googled to find out.

Found this if it's any help

glutinous rice = sticky rice = sushi rice = sweet rice = Chinese sweet rice = waxy rice = botan rice = mochi rice = Japanese rice = pearl rice Equivalents: One cup dried rice yields two cups cooked rice. Notes: Despite its name, this rice isn't sweet and it doesn't contain gluten. Instead, it's a very sticky, short-grain rice that is widely used by Asians, who use it to make sushi and various desserts. You can buy this as either white or black (actually a rust color) rice. Substitutes: risotto rice (works well in sushi) OR short-grain rice (This also works well in sushi, as long as you use white rice. Brown short-grain rice doesn't stick together as well.) OR medium-grain rice (Also good for sushi)