glutinous

more tasty treats! our housemate eliminated refined sugar from her diet a month ago, so the birthday cake tradition had to be slightly revised. instead of something similar to the 10-layer ice-cream, brownie, and cake construction The Women Of The House made for one of their number last weekend, we made a minimally-sweetened platter of sticky rice and mangoes. after washing almost 2 pounds of glutinous rice in many waters, we soaked it for 24 hours, wrapped it all in a cheesecloth bag and steamed it in the biggest steamer we had in the house, then turned it out into a baking dish. we cut an improbable quantity of hot, sugared and salted coconut milk into the still-steaming rice and let it cool and absorb the milk. in the meantime, a teaspoon of cornstarch thickened the last cup of sweetened coconut milk into a light sauce.

the rice absorbed a remarkable amount of liquid--i was sure we'd overdone it on the coconut milk but was, as usual, incorrect. fortunately the consistency was precisely right. covered with thin slices of ripened mango and a big spoonful of the sauce, it was exactly the kind of thing you shouldn't encounter after coming back from a run and before having dinner.