Directions

Prepare Butterfly Pea Water (Optional)

1. In Royal Thai cuisine, which values both the quality of ingredients and the beauty of presentation, sticky rice is often infused with butterfly pea water before steaming to give it a vibrant purple hue.
2. To prepare the butterfly pea water, bring water to a boil and then remove from heat. Add fresh or dried butterfly pea flowers and let them steep for at least 30 minutes. Strain the flowers and reserve the infused liquid.
3. Next, squeeze fresh lime juice into the water, adding a few drops at a time. This will transform the color from blue to purple—the more lime juice you add, the deeper the shade of purple. Allow the water to cool before using it to soak the sticky rice for a minimum of 3 hours, or overnight for best results.

Rinse Sticky Rice

1. Add sticky rice to a bowl filled with water and rinse and repeat 4-5 times or until the water is no longer cloudy. You may use alum to scrub the rice as part of the rinsing process to give a nice sheen to the rice.
2. Soak the sticky rice in water (or the water with the butterfly pea) for 3 hours or overnight.

Cook Sticky Rice

1. The best way to cook Thai sticky rice is to steam with a steamer and cheesecloth, or in a bamboo steamer. Add water to the bottom section of the steamer, lay cheesecloth on the second tier of the steamer, drain the rice and spread the rice evenly on the cheesecloth.

2. Cover with the steamer lid. Bring the water to a boil, reduce to medium heat and steam for 10-15 minutes, depending on how long you soak the rice.

Prepare Coconut Mixture

1. Add all ingredients to a saucepan. Simmer over low heat until sugar and salt dissolve. Turn off the heat and add coconut mixture to steamed sticky rice while it is hot.
2. Add steamed sticky rice to a glass mixing bowl, slowly pour coconut mixture onto hot rice and gently mix together. Cover the bowl with a lid and let it sit for 20-30 minutes until steamed rice absorbs the coconut mixture.

Make Coconut Cream Topping

1. Add all ingredients in a saucepan. Mix together over low heat and stir until the sauce thickens.

2. Turn off the heat and drizzle over the sticky rice before serving with fresh mango. Rather than use coconut cream, you can experiment with coconut or other flavors of ice cream.