Recipes

Sticky Rice

Khao Neow

Glutinous rice soaked and steamed in cheesecloth until soft, chewy, and translucent

Sticky Rice
Prep
2 min
Cook
45 min
Serves
4
Heat
mild

Sticky rice needs no fancy equipment to make well at home, just a long soak followed by a proper steam in a cheesecloth bag rather than being boiled directly in water the way jasmine rice is. The soak is what allows the rice to steam through evenly and turn fully translucent and sticky, and turning the bag periodically during cooking helps the steam reach every grain. It's the foundation for some of Thailand's most recognizable desserts, including mango sticky rice, but in the northeast it's also simply the everyday rice eaten with nearly every meal, traditionally kept warm in a small basket rather than the refrigerator, which would only make it hard.

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Rinse the rice thoroughly.
  2. Place the rice in a large bowl or pot and cover with about twice as much water as rice. Soak for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
  3. Drain and rinse the soaked rice again.
  4. Put the rice in a cheesecloth bag and place it in a vegetable steamer, making sure the water level stays below the rice when boiling.
  5. Cover and steam for at least 45 minutes, checking the water level periodically and adding more as needed without pouring it directly onto the rice bag. Turn the bag over a few times during cooking so steam reaches all the rice evenly.
  6. After 45 minutes, open the bag and check — the rice should be translucent and sticky with no dry spots. Stir and check thoroughly; if any rice is undercooked, adjust the bag and continue steaming. Once done, turn off the heat and let the bag cool in the pot with the lid off.
  7. Once cooled, the rice will be soft, chewy, and sticky. Keep it covered with a damp cloth at room temperature to maintain that texture — refrigerating sticky rice makes it hard, so avoid that. Traditionally it's kept in a small basket and eaten the same day.

Notes

Never refrigerate sticky rice, even leftovers — the cold makes it hard and dry, while a damp cloth at room temperature keeps it soft and chewy for hours.

Substitutions

A dedicated sticky rice steamer set (a metal pot with a bamboo basket) works even better than a cheesecloth-and-vegetable-steamer setup if you have one, but the cheesecloth method gives good results with equipment most kitchens already have.