Coconut Sticky Rice
“This dessert combines glutinous rice with the rich sweetness of coconut, wrapped in a fragrant pandan leaf for an aromatic finish.”
The bite
Glutinous rice steamed with coconut milk and a knot of pandan leaf, then packed into a hollowed young coconut and steamed again until the rice picks up the shell's faint roasted note. Eaten warm with a spoon, scraping the soft coconut flesh up with the rice. A good one is just sweet enough to read as dessert; if sugar dominates, the coconut was old and they covered the rancidity.
Where it comes from
A Hainan-Southeast Asia crossover dish that took its current shape in the early twentieth century, when Hainanese laborers returning from Thailand and Malaya brought back the technique of cooking rice inside coconut shells. Glutinous rice farming dates to Han-dynasty Hainan; pandan was a later import from the Malay peninsula via returning emigrants.
What makes it work
The double-steam is the move. First steam cooks the rice through; second steam — inside the coconut — transfers oil and aromatic compounds from the shell wall into the rice via direct contact. Skipping the first steam and trying to cook raw rice inside the coconut produces uneven texture: scorched at the wall, raw at the center.
On the Palate
What goes into it
How it's made
- 1
Soak glutinous rice in water for a few hours, then drain.
- 2
Steam the rice with a little salt until cooked through.
- 3
Mix the cooked rice with shredded coconut and sugar.
- 4
Place the rice on a pandan leaf, then wrap and secure.
- 5
Steam the wrapped rice again for full flavor.
