Thai cuisine · Dough, Pasta & Rice

Khao Lam

Glutinous rice with coconut milk and red beans, cooked in bamboo tubes over embers and cracked open to eat.

Ingredients · for 6 servings

• 400 g glutinous rice (Thai sticky rice)
• 100 g kidney beans (dried)
• 550 ml coconut milk
• 120 g palm sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp grated coconut
• 6 bamboo tubes (or substitute 6 heatproof jars)
• 2 banana leaves (or substitute parchment paper)

Instructions

1. Soak the glutinous rice and kidney beans separately in cold water overnight; drain the next day and cook the beans until soft for 30 min.
2. Warm the coconut milk with palm sugar and salt over gentle heat for 5 min until the sugar has fully dissolved, then let cool to lukewarm.
3. Mix the glutinous rice, beans and grated coconut, and fill the bamboo tubes or jars only two-thirds full, as the rice swells considerably.
4. Pour in the sweetened coconut milk until it stands 2 cm above the rice, and seal the opening tightly with rolled-up banana leaves.
5. Cook the tubes at an angle over gentle embers for 60–70 min, turning every 15 min, until the outside is charred dark and no more steam escapes; in the oven at 180°C in jars it takes just as long.
6. Let the tubes rest for 10 min, split lengthwise, and serve the compact rice cylinder warm in slices.