Glutinous rice with with brandy coconut

I'm a big fan of Thai style coconut based puddings, and also quite keen on glutinous, also called sticky, rice. This recipe is a take on khao niao na maprao, or glutinous rice with sweet, semi-caramelised coconut on top. Brandy imparts a mild fruity quality. It's optional, so don't go out and buy a bottle just for small amount I call for in this recipe. If you're skipping the booze, just replace it with water.

Apparently I didn't know how to make sense of words and language back in 2010 when I first penned this recipe, so I've updated in in December 2025 to be, um, legible? I don't agree with my past self on a few points (e.g. that it's best to use fresh, homemade coconut milk; I mean yeah maybe the taste is superior but the average person probably doesn't have time for that noise).

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Black and white glutinous rice with caramelised brandy coconut

You can use all white glutinous rice if you can't get your hands on the black variety. You'll probably have more of the coconut topping than you need, but you can use any leftovers as a topping with ice cream or on/in pancakes. Also please note this recipe has not been tested with desiccated coconut.

Ingredients

Coconut rice ingredients

• 55 grams Thai white glutinous rice ¼ cup
• 50 grams Thai black glutinous rice ¼ cup
• 125 millilitres full fat coconut milk or coconut cream ½ cup
• 55 grams soft palm sugar scant ¼ cup
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Generous couple pinches of salt

Brandy coconut ingredients

• 45 grams soft palm sugar 3 tablespoons
• 2 teaspoons water
• 1 tablespoon brandy optional
• Generous couple pinches of salt
• 165 grams shredded fresh coconut (the frozen stuff is fine) approximately 1 ½ cups

Instructions

Make the rice

• Add both rices to a bowl, cover with water, and leave to soak overnight (or for at least 8-10 hours).
• The next day, bring your steaming apparatus to a rolling simmer. Strain the rice to discard the water, and tip the grains into a square of muslin cloth. Bundle the cloth up and pop it into the steamer for 20-25 minutes. The rice should be soft, with a firmer but still comfortably chewable texture in the black grains. If it's too firm, steam for another few minutes.
• Heat the coconut milk, palm sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the steamed glutinous rice and cook for a few minutes until some of the liquid is absorbed by the rice but it's still a little soupy.

  Pop a lid on and set aside while you prepare the coconut topping.

Make the coconut topping

• On medium heat, simmer the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved and the colour darkens a shade or two. Add the brandy (if using) and salt, followed by the shredded coconut. Cook for somewhere in the ballpark of ten minutes, stirring constantly, until there's no longer any liquid and the coconut is dry and golden.
• Portion the rice into 2-3 small bowls and top with as much of the grated coconut topping as you'd like. For added richness, drizzle with some extra coconut milk or cream.