Sticky rice or glutinous rice is an important staple food of North and North-East Thais. In general people in other parts of Thailand consume ordinary rice or long grain rice. It is not only Northern and Northern-Eastern Thais who eat sticky rice as the daily staple food but Lao in Laos also eat sticky rice as their staple food, in history they were the same group of people in an ancient kingdom before forming Thailand - Laos.

Sticky rice is very popular at Thai restaurants. Everyone loves to eat sticky rice, even kids who don’t eat rice as the staple food at home they love eating sticky rice, for example every summer my whole family in laws will get together, we will share to do cooking for everyone and when I take the turn I will make Thai food and kids will ask for sticky rice!

How to cook sticky rice is a question for people who don’t eat rice or sticky rice as a staple food. I am going to show you how and if you have a sticky rice steamer it is pretty easy. You can get this sticky rice steamer at Asian grocery stores, they are from Thailand.

This traditional cone-shaped woven bamboo weaved basket(see the picture below) is, an incredible intelligent invention, produced excellent sticky rice as sticky rice can not absorb a lot of  water so cooked sticky rice will not be swollen much. The way to cook sticky rice is at least soak it in water for more than three hours or just leave it cover with water over night – sticky rice will be saturated with water so when you cook you have to drain all water before transfer sticky rice into the bamboo basket, and because this bamboo basket has a cone shape all the extra water that is still in the rice (as you can not drain it completely) will drain itself and the bottom completely dry out as it is not flat. If you use flat bottom streamer the sticky rice will come out wet and mash. This cone-shaped woven bamboo weaved basket always comes together with its pot but a lid. The reason they don’t have a lid is, that this bamboo basket can contain any amount of rice; more rice needs a bigger lid to fit the cone so you can just find the right lid from your kitchen.  

Ingredients

Thai Sticky Rice or Glutinous rice  any amount (remember that sticky rice will not be swollen much.)

Tap Water                                       enough to cover sticky rice   

Instruction

1.      Rise sticky rice one time with water.

2.      Cover sticky rice with water at least 3 hours or over night.

Sticky Rice Steamer

3.      Heat water with the sticky rice streamer pot on high until boiled with stream coming out.

4.      Drain water from sticky rice totally and then transfer it into the bamboo basket.

5.      Place the bamboo basket with sticky rice on the pot and cover the basket with a pot lid, lower the heat to medium high and steam for 35 -45 minutes or until rice is cooked.

6.      Remove from heat, served hot with yummy Thai food.

PS ** After the rice is cooking on the heat for about half way, rotate the rice by remove the basket from the heat (just use your two hands hold the top of basket, it’s not hot because it’s made from bamboo and also it doesn’t touch the heat directly) and shake to loosen the rice from basket and then toss to rotate the rice and then put the rice back to the pot until rice is cooked totally.