Blue Coconut Sauce – AMCARMEN'S KITCHEN

The combination of mango and black sticky rice is fairly common in Thailand. Black sticky rice, a delicious whole-grain alternative to white rice, is purplish black in colour and has a chewy texture. It is naturally sweet, contains fibre, and is loaded with antioxidants, which makes this dessert all the more healthy and guilt-free to eat!

The black sticky rice is served alongside sliced mango, and a sauce of sweet and salty coconut milk is usually added. I had initially decided to purée the mango, but when I took a photo of the final plate up, I wasn’t happy with how it aesthetically turned out. So the following week, I thought of serving it with fresh mango on the side. It wasn’t until an idea popped into mind when I thought back to my Grilled Pineapple Dessert – I thought, why not grill the mango to further enhance its flavour?

Before we dive into tonight’s recipe, please take the time to check out the original recipe where I drew my inspiration from over on Breakfast With Flowers by Katja. This was where I took the inspiration from into making the coconut sauce for this dish blue by simmering and steeping dried butterfly pea flowers in the coconut milk.

PREP TIME 10 MINS* | COOKING TIME 45 MINS | SERVES 6

* Plus 4 hours (or overnight) to soak the rice

INGREDIENTS

For the black sticky rice

2 cups black glutinous rice, pre-soaked
4 & 1/2 cups water
Pinch of salt

For the blue coconut sauce

200ml coconut milk
1 tbsp loose dried butterfly pea flowers
2 tbsp white granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt

To serve with

Grilled Mango
Shredded fresh coconut
Cornflakes (optional)

METHOD

Black Sticky Rice: Wash the black glutinous soaked rice well in several changes of cold water and then drain thoroughly.
Place the rice together with the 4 & 1/2 cups of water and salt in a rice cooker. Let it work its magic. Optional: If available, you can cook the rice with a pandan leaf for fragrance.
Alternatively, you may use a heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid. Bring to a vigorous boil over high heat. Cover, then reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the rice is tender (but still a little chewy in the center) and the liquid is absorbed, about 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from heat and let it stand, covered, for 10 minutes.
Blue Coconut Sauce: While the rice is cooking prepare your coconut sauce. Add the dried butterfly pea flowers to a small saucepan together with the coconut milk, sugar, and salt.
Gently heat on medium-low for about 10 minutes or until you get the hue of blue that you want infused into the coconut milk.
Once done, remove from the heat and strain out the butterfly pea flowers. Press on the flowers to extract more colour out of them.
Serve the black sticky rice together with grilled mango, and shredded fresh coconut. Top the rice with the blue coconut sauce and sprinkle with some crushed cornflakes for that extra added crunch. Enjoy as a warm dessert!