Sticky rice is a rice grain that typically presents as white and opaque and short in length. There are longer grain varieties and other colours such as black and red which are also quite popular in desserts and for use in restaurants. There may be some nutritional advantage in the coloured versions but really it's quite minimal.

There is a traditional method of preparation of sticky rice which begins with a wash to remove any fine and soluble or easily dispersed rice powder plus any contaminants that may have been introduced. This is done visually.

  1. The rice is then soaked in fresh clean water for a few hours varying in recommended time from 30 minutes to 6 hours or overnight.
  2. The rice is then drained in either a muslin cloth wrapper or directly in the bamboo steamer cone.
  3. A boiling steamer is set up with the water level below the bottom of the contained rice and the cone placed in the mouth of the steamer for approximately 30 minutes. The rice may be turned over if in fact it is a large batch. this helps uniform steaming/cooking of the rice.
  4. The rice when ready is often placed in a muslin cloth wrapper and this then placed into a krathip or sticky rice holder.

There is an alternative contemporary method which is far simpler and works just as well.

  1. The rice is washed and cleaned and soaked as described . The soaking in this case can be as short as 15 minutes.
  2. The rice is then placed into an electric rice cooker and water added to just cover the surface of the rice. (5 mm or 1/4 in). The cooker is switched on and the rice is finished when the water is absorbed. maybe 20 to 30 minutes.