Adventures in Thai Cooking
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Sticky Rice
White Sticky Rice (Kao Niow)
by Kasma Loha-unchit
Text Copyright © 1995 & 2000 Kasma Loha-unchit.
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White Sticky Rice (kao niow): Also
known as "glutinous" rice or "sweet" rice, this starchy grain is steamed
dry after prolonged soaking to yield a sticky, chewy texture. Steamed sticky rice is the staple
food of northern and northeastern Thailand, where it replaces the regular steamed rice of the
central region. Use medium- to long-grain glutinous rice and not the round short-grain variety for
Thai-style meals.
Soak the opaque white grains in plenty of water for four hours or more. The grains will absorb water and grow in size. Then drain and steam without any water for about half an hour. For less than two cups of rice, steam in a dry dish on the rack of a stacked steamer; for more than two cups, use the special sticky rice steamer available from Southeast Asian markets – a woven, hat-like bamboo basket that fits over a pot with a collar shaped somewhat like a spittoon.
Text Copyright © 2000 Kasma Loha-unchit in Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood. See pages 70 & 71.
This is just one of many listings in the "Alphabetical List of Ingredients" in chapter four (pages 49 to 73) of Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood.
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Sticky Rice – A Special Chewy White Rice
The people of northern and northeastern Thailand prefer to consume a variety of rice called kao niow or, literally, "sticky rice." Easily cultivated on the hillsides and high plateaus of these two regions, it requires less water to grow than the wet rice of the central lowlands. More commonly known as "sweet" or "glutinous" rice among other Asians, it is usually identified by either of these two names on the labels of rice sacks. (These names will also be used interchangeably to refer to sticky rice throughout this book.)
Sticky rice is a starchy grain. If steamed or boiled the same way as regular rice, the grains will break down and become soft and mushy in consistency. Instead, Thai people like to cook it in such a way that the rice grains remain whole and have a firm, chewy texture. To accomplish this, the rice is soaked for several hours until the grains have absorbed enough water to cook. Then it is drained and steamed dry in a woven bamboo basket without adding any water.
Though the grains remain whole, steamed sticky rice sticks together in a lump. Northerners and northeasterners eat with their hand, pulling off a bite-size chunk at a time and rolling the rice with the fingers and palm of the right hand roughly to form a ball. The rice ball is then dipped in a spicy sauce, or picked up together with morsels of accompanying meat, fish or vegetables. Sticky rice lends itself well to eating by hand. It is not messy because, if done correctly, the grains stick to each other but not to the fingers or the palm. Rolling the last bite of rice at the end of a meal usually sops up the remaining juices and grease from fingers and palm and effectively cleans the hand. In the rural northeast, or the Isahn region – the country's poorest and most traditional region – a recent song likens the togetherness of villagers to the sticky rice they eat, people "sticking" together and helping each other out in contrast with city folk in the central valley who have lost their ties to family and village.
Sticky rice comes in both short-grain and long-grain varieties. Thai people prefer the long-grain rice; the short-grain variety is more commonly used in Chinese and Japanese cooking. Among the long-grain varieties, some have a delicate, aromatic flavor, and these "high-grade" hybrids are distinguished as "jasmine" sweet or glutinous rice, much like their fragrant cousins in the non-glutinous family. The starchiness of sticky rice gives it a distinct opaque whiteness different from the more translucent appearance of regular rice grains, but the reverse is true after the rices are cooked. Soaked and steamed as described, sticky rice becomes translucent, while regular rice turns opaque white when cooked.
Sticky rice is consumed in other parts of Thailand as well, but usually it is sweetened and flavored with coconut milk for sweet snacks or desserts. (See recipe for Coconut Flavored Sticky Rice with Mangoes .) It is especially popular during the mango and durian season when tons of the coconut-flavored rice are sold to eat along with these precious fruits. In mango season during the hottest months of the year – March through May – streetside vendors, neighborhood fruit stands and kanom (sweet snack) shops all over the country do a brisk business selling sticky rice along with their precious golden fruits. Large mounds of glistening grains filling enormous metal bowls may be seen alongside neatly arranged piles of yellow mangoes and odoriferous prickly durians. These are two of the favorite fruits among Thai people, and both go well with rich, creamy sticky rice.
. . .
When eating Isahn food, steamed sticky rice is a definite must. Barbecued chicken with green papaya salad; various lahbs (intensely spicy minced meat salads); fermented sour sausages called naem; little round Isahn pork sausages and spicy näm prik sauces made with fermented shrimp or fish, accompanied by crisp raw vegetables and pungent and aromatic herbs – all are very good when eaten together with chewy sticky rice. It seems the more you chew, the better everything tastes. Use your hand as the Isahn people do. It makes for a truly delightful finger-licking experience.
To cook sticky rice, Thais use a cone-shaped, woven bamboo basket
that looks somewhat like a straw hat. The basket fits over a tall companion pot with a wide collar
to hold it in place. Depending on how much rice is to be steamed, any round lid that fits above
the rice level in the basket can be used as a cover. A few inches of water in the pot, when heated
over a burner, produce the steam which rises and passes through the basket to cook the presoaked
rice. Homes and restaurants in the north and northeast serve cooked sticky rice in small round
baskets with covers (called gkra-dtip), which are placed around the dining table. These
baskets come in different sizes; some hold enough rice for one or two people, while larger ones
serve four or more.
The special steaming basket and pot are available from Southeast Asian markets and are essential for the even cooking of larger quantities of sticky rice (from a few cups to five pounds of rice at a time.) They are inexpensive, about five dollars apiece, and will last a long, long time, making lots of wonderful batches of delicious sticky rice.
If 
you are unable to find the special basket, try using a straw or wire-mesh
colander placed on a rack over a steamer. Avoid steaming the rice directly on a steamer rack lined
with dampened cloth (as suggested by some sources) because the moisture the cloth absorbs is
likely to turn the grains touching it into a mushy, gooey mass. If you are making just a small
quantity (i.e., less than two cups), it would work to steam the rice in a dry bowl placed on a
steamer rack. Do spread the grains out loosely rather than compacting them down on the dish; this
makes it easier for the steam to reach the inner layers and cook all the grains more evenly. Make
sure to soak the rice in plenty of water for several hours, or overnight, before steaming. Steam
about half an hour or until the rice is thoroughly cooked through. (See recipe for Steamed White Sticky Rice.)
Don't use the sticky rice cooking method for other sorts of rice. It won't work because nonglutinous rice is a much denser grain and will not absorb water the same way glutinous rice does. Even if soaked all day, when steamed dry, regular rice will not cook and produce the chewy texture of sticky rice.
Buying 
Sticky Rice
Sticky rice is usually labelled "glutinous rice" or "sweet rice." The following brands are all good: Golden Phoenix, Butterfly, and Sanpatong (Three Ladies Brand).
Text Copyright © 1995 Kasma Loha-unchit in It Rains Fishes. See pages 29 to 34.
Ingredient index | Return to Top
Recipes with White Sticky Rice :
Desserts
Coconut Flavored Sticky Rice with Mangoes (Kao Niow Ma-muang)
Rice
Steamed White Sticky Rice (Kao Niow Neung)
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Text Copyright © Kasma Loha-unchit, 1995 in It Rains Fishes, and 2000 in Dancing Shrimp. All rights reserved.
Drawings Copyright © 1995 Margaret DeJong. All rights reserved.
All material on this website is Copyright © 1995 to 2008 Kasma Loha-unchit. All rights reserved.
For comments, feedback or questions, contact Kasma.
Page added 15 June 2003. Last updated 4 September 2006.