Sticky Rice Steaming (Khao Niao)

Glutinous rice (Oryza sativa var. glutinosa) is the staple of Laos, northeast Thailand, and highland Burma and northern Thailand. Its use as the daily staple (rather than the non-glutinous jasmine rice of central Thailand) reflects both agricultural availability and cultural identity. Thompson notes that the Lao and Isaan identification with sticky rice goes beyond food — it is an identity marker, expressed in the phrase 'luk khao niao' (child of sticky rice) used by Lao and Isaan people to distinguish themselves from central Thai 'luk khao jao' (children of jasmine rice).

Glutinous rice soaked overnight, then steamed over boiling water in a conical bamboo basket — a preparation of the north and northeast that produces a completely different eating experience from jasmine rice: each grain is separate but clingy, the rice pulled and torn in the fingers, shaped into small balls and used as the utensil and the food simultaneously. Sticky rice is the staple of Isaan and Lao eating, served at every meal, and it must be cooked correctly: undercooked sticky rice is chalky and hard at the centre; overcooked sticky rice is an amorphous, gluey mass. The correctly steamed sticky rice — cooked through, slightly translucent, each grain holding its shape but adhering to its neighbours — has a texture found nowhere else in the grain world.

Not yet written for this entry.

Not yet written for this entry.