Sawaddee ka welcome to hot thai kitchen a while back I posted a tutorial on how to make sticky rice using
a traditional bamboo steamer which I still stand by is the best way to make sticky rice because
use the best result and it also infuses a nice bamboo aroma into the rice however that method
does require a bit of an advanced planning because the rice needs to soak for at least four hours so
it becomes a problem when I suddenly want sticky rice so I've been experimenting with a couple of
different ways I can make sticky rice without the need to soak it and I've come up with two
good methods that I'm going to share with you today the first method I call the steam the
bowl method and the second method is the rice cooker methods so let's go take a look at them
so first you want to start out by rinsing the rice a few times I've got here a cup and a half
of white glutinous rice make sure it's from Thailand because there are a few different
types and you just want to rinse it well with cold water a few times and this will wash away
the excess starch that will prevent the rice from being gummy when it's done and the first
rinse will be the water would be very cloudy and then progressively the second and the third
rinses the water will become clearer and clearer so what you're looking for is for the water to
be clear enough that you can actually see the rice through the water three to four times is
usually good enough on your final rinse you want to make sure you drain off the water really well
I like to use a stir the back of a strainer and just oh there's a little spout there make sure
all the water is gone because sticky rice is very sensitive to mushing so you have too much
residual water during the washing it will throw off your water to rice ratio and sticky rice is
really not very forgiving and then we're just going to transfer it into our heat proof Bowl
now this is a heat proof Bowl that we're going to cook the rice in and I like to use a flat bottom
bowl like this one and you'll see why in a second and then to this I'm going to add my water the
ratio is one part water two-thirds rice so with one and a half cup of rice I'm using one cup of
water here and sticky rice takes a lot less water than does regular white rice or always less water
than rice and also different kinds of Rice's will take different amounts of water there's something
called old crop rice and new crop rice and old crop rice has been dried out for a longer period
of time it'll take a little bit more water when you cook it you don't always know based on your
packaging what kind of rice you have so you may need a little bit more a little bit less than
me but I think starting with two thirds is a good ratio so basically we're going to take this bowl
and steam it and if you have a steamer great use it if you don't have a steamer then all you need
is a big pot with a lid that the bowl will fit in and then you can use one of these steamer racks
that you can get from an Asian grocery store for like a buck fifty and then set it in the
pot or you can't find this what you can do is you can make a donut foil a foil doughnut like
this which will prop up the bowl and I learned this trick during culinary school to prop up a
roast chicken actually so what you need is just four five four pieces before you may need less if
it's a heavy-duty one about about 16 inches long and then you're just going to scrunch it down and
you just have to make sure that your bowl sits on it okay you may need to adjust it a couple of
times and that's your makeshift steamer rack and just put it in there so in here I've got about
a little less than an inch of water you don't need a whole lot and I'm going to put my setup
in here and then bring this water to the oil so put the bowl into the pot after the waters come
to a full boil I like to turn the heat off while a off while I do this so I don't steam burn my hand
and then if you don't have one of these tongs to make sure you use an oven mitt when you go
in so you don't burn your hand and then we're going to let this steam for 25 minutes for one
and a half cup of rice that I have here if you have more rice you may need a little bit more
so after about 20 and 25 minutes it should be more or less done at this point but I've
turned it off but I'm just going to let it sit in there for another 10 minutes
or so this will let the steam settle and it would also allow any residual moisture in
there to be fully absorbed into the rice and the rice would be more nicely cooked
this method works because the heating is gentle now when you steam the bowl the water inside the
bowl never actually boils but it's hot enough that it gradually heats and cooks the rice so the rice
is cooked through while still maintaining that chewy texture if you take the bowl and transfer
all the content into a pot and you cook that directly on a stove what will happen is the
outside will start to mush before the inside cooks through now unlike white rice which can withstand
boiling water sticky rice is very sensitive to boiling water and it will mush if you do that
so the rice cooker method is pretty darn simple you just cook the rice in the rice
cooker but the same trick still apply you want to make sure you rinse the rice a few times and
you still want to make sure on your final rinse you rinse it really I mean you drain
it really really well and then we're going to use the same ratio of water one part rice
two-thirds water so I've got one cup here I'm going to add 2/3 cup of water into it
and it should come up off the rice just a little bit and then you just let it go
now some rice cookers are better at this than others the good ones are basically those that
have more gentle heating and doesn't vigorously boil the water for the same reason that the steam
the bowl method works now this little one only 300 watt works great some fancy rice cookers
have actually have a special program for sticky rice and that program basically uses less power
so if you have a big powerful rice cookers it may not work as well and it may overcook the outside
of your rice a little bit so you just have to try it out and see if it works for you so the
rice cooker has already stopped but don't go in just yet let it sit for another 10 minutes what
happens is the rice cooker stops when there's no more liquid at the bottom and it senses a sudden
temperature rise from the from the pot and then it stops but there's still residual moisture that's
still in the rice so this rest time of 10 minutes allow that moisture to be fully absorbed into the
rice and you get rice that's more fully cooked and not so wet and this applies as well for when you
cook white rice in a rice cooker always let it sit for like 10 minutes or so before you go in
so here's our two different sticky Rice's that we cooked from the two different methods if you ask
me which one I prefer I would say the steam the bowl method because with the rice cooker method
there's always a layer of crispy rice at the bottom it might not happen emitting on which
rice cooker you have but I find this is much more reliable and as I said I think the traditional pre
soaked and steaming method is still the best way and if you haven't seen that you can click this
link for that original sticky rice tutorial and if you have another method that you use
I know some people can do it in a microwave I haven't tried that one out yet you can please
share it with us on our Facebook and I will see you next time for your next tip it's just tiny