Ube Mango Sticky Rice

Adapted by Kyle Libramonte

Prep Time: 15 Minutes • Cook Time: 35 Minutes

Serve 4

Ingredients:

1½ cups sweet rice (glutinous rice), soaked overnight
About ¾ cup water for cooking — just enough to sit level with the drained rice, no more
1¾ cups coconut cream (kakang gata) total, divided: ¾ cup for the rice, 1 cup for the sauce
½ cup ube-flavored sweetened condensed milk
½ cup ube halaya — get the real thing, since purple kamote gets sold as ube constantly and it will taste like sweet potato because it is
½ tsp salt, for the rice
⅓ cup sugar, for the sauce (brown sugar is worth trying; the darker it is, the more caramel it pushes into the ube)
Salt, to taste, for the sauce
2 large ripe mangoes, sliced off the cheek into ¼-inch strips (if they're sour, toss the slices in a spoonful of sugar and let them sit while the rice cooks)
Toasted sesame seeds, optional, for serving

Instructions:

Soak the Rice the Night Before: Cover the sweet rice with at least an inch of cold water, put a lid or plastic wrap over the bowl, and leave it overnight. You can't buy this back with a longer cook — unsoaked grains stay chalky in the middle and go to mush on the outside trying to catch up. Drain it well in the morning and let it sit a minute to shed the last of the water.
Mix the Ube Base Before You Touch the Stove: Whisk ¾ cup of the coconut cream with the ube condensed milk, ube halaya, and ½ tsp salt until it's smooth and pourable, then leave the bowl on the counter. Fridge-cold cream hitting hot rice makes the grains seize and clump. Doing it now also means your hands are free later, when the rice is off the heat and the window is actually short.
Cook the Rice Low and Covered, Scraping the Bottom: Add the drained rice and water to the pot, cover, and bring it up on low for the first few minutes before settling at medium-low. Cook 18 to 20 minutes at a bare simmer, lifting the lid every 5 minutes to run a spoon flat across the bottom — with this little water, the bottom layer catches fast if you leave it. You're done when the liquid is gone and it looks like wet steamed rice, glossy and heavy, not dry.
Cut the Heat and Fold In the Ube: Take the pot off the burner completely, pour in the ube mixture, and fold rather than stir so the grains stay whole. There's more than enough heat left in the rice to carry the halaya through it, and stirring over a live flame just shears the starch and turns it pasty. Cover and give it 10 minutes; it'll go from streaky to evenly violet and thicken as it settles.
Simmer the Coconut Sauce: Combine the remaining 1 cup coconut cream, the sugar, and a pinch of salt in a saucepan over medium heat, and simmer about 3 minutes until it thickens enough to coat a spoon. Salt it until you can actually taste it against the sugar — a flat sweet sauce over sweet rice gives you nothing to push against. Pull it before it goes past pourable into sticky.
Slice the Mango and Serve: Fan the mango over the rice, drizzle the sauce across it, and finish with sesame seeds. Serve it warm, with extra sauce on the side for anyone who wants it. It's honestly just as good cold the next day, which is more than most desserts will admit.