Learning Something New

I love it when I learn something that will help me out in the kitchen. Yesterday I learned how to make sticky rice (also called sweet rice and glutinous rice). Sticky rice is found in a lot of Thai restaurants. It's delicious. But I've always found it hard to make. We tried the rice cooker but couldn't get it right. The directions for the traditional method call for long soaking, then wrapping the rice in cheesecloth and steaming the whole bundle, which seems like a whole lot of work for a little bit of rice. So we kept looking at the large bag of rice we bought at the Asian market wondering what the heck we were going to do with it. Then yesterday I was cruising the Internet for recipes for 'pearl rice balls' (an appetizer with a won ton like filling that you roll in the sticky rice and steam) when I found a website with microwave instructions for making sticky rice. Yes, microwave. And it doesn't require six hours of soaking or cheesecloth. So I made it last night with some fish in a curry sauce and sauteed spinach in peanut sauce. It was perfect!

Here is how to make microwave sticky rice.

Soak once cup of stick rice in one cup (plus a tablespoon or two) of warm water for ten minutes in a microwave safe container. Microwave on high for three minutes. Stir. Microwave for another three minutes. Stir again. You are looking for all of the grains to be translucent. Continue microwaving and stirring at three minute intervals until all the rice is translucent. In my microwave this took about twelve minutes total but mine is pretty low wattage. Enjoy!