Mango sticky rice

Mango season is coming!  I read that the first box of Northern Territory mangoes was sold yesterday, which means in just a few short weeks I will be in mango heaven.  I hope it's a good season!  (As an aside - used to hate mangoes.  Hate hate hate.  Then one day, very suddenly, I started loving them, as well as a whole bunch of other foods I used to despise - olives, feta cheese, coffee, dolmades, canned beetroot, etc etc.  I was seventeen, I think.  Who knows what clicked in my brain to change it all?  Still can't stand rocket.)

ANYWAY.

I'd already been craving mango sticky rice since I saw it in Xiaxue's blog post about Thailand like two months ago.  Reading about mangoes in the news was the final straw so I decided to just go ahead and use the tinned stuff.  It's not as good, but it's not bad.  Presenting Hayley's Mango Sticky Rice Recipe!

You will need:

• 1 can coconut milk, ~1/2 cup worth.  I like Ayam brand.  Mostly that their product is good, but partly the chicken logo.
• 1 1/2 cups glutinous rice
• Mango slices (no brand loyalty here, this is what they had at the Asian market.  This was tasty though.)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• water

Add rice and 2 cups water to a large pan.  Bring to the boil then reduce heat to low until water is absorbed.

Done!

Meanwhile, bring sugar, coconut milk and 1/2 cup water to the boil.  Remove from heat.

Once the rice has absorbed the water, stir the coconut mixture through.  Allow to cool for 1 hour (or a bit less if you're greedy.)

Looks hideous, tastes delicious.  Brutto ma buono.

Serve with mango slices and eat!  Fresh mango slices are much, much better - these were really not hitting the spot.

Look, I even arranged it nicely.  Wouldn't have done that if I wasn't planning to blog it.

You can make a sauce of thickened coconut milk to top this with but I don't bother.  Also I would normally garnish with sesame seeds but apparently I'm all out.  Phooey.

Serves at least 4, depending on portion size.  The one above is not the whole batch!  I'm a glutton, but I'm not THAT gluttonous.

PS  Don't you think it's fascinating how many disparate food cultures have recipes for rice pudding?  There are Middle Eastern versions with rosewater, arroz con leche and all its derivatives throughout Central and South America, Scandinavian risalamande, a vast number of Central/South/South-East Asian variants, and all the European versions.  Is rice pudding the thing that unites us all?  (Well, except Africa, unless they do a version there I don't know of.  I know they have it in Egypt, but it's really the Middle Eastern edition I'm pretty sure.)