Rice comes in many different forms. There is long and short grain rice and it can be white, brown, red or black in colour.

Plain Rice is most popular in central and southern Thailand. To cook it, for every single measure of water to a boil. Boil the water until the rice is soft on the outside but until hard in the centre for about 10-15 minutes. The time will vary depending on how much rice being cooked. Put the lid on the pan, turn the heat right down and let the rice cook until the water has evaporated for 5-10 minutes. If the rice cook on the top is cooked, then all the rice in the pan will be cooked as well. Once all the water has evaporated care must be taken not to burn the rice at the bottom of pan.

Sticky or Glutinous Rice is different grain of rice from plain rice and its eaten mainly in the north and north-east of Thailand. It is eaten using your hands. The sticky rice needs to be soaked in water for before it is cooked.

Drain the water out of the sticky rice and put the sticky rice into the top part of a steamer. If the steamer has big holes in it, then put a muslin cloth in the steamer first, to stop the rice falling thought the holes. Then bring the water in the bottom part of the steamer to the boil. When you can see steam coming through the sticky rice then put the lid on the rice and if it is not hard in the middle it is cooked. If the middle of the rice is still hard then you need to replace the lid another few minutes.

Once it is cooked turn the heat off and put the sticky rice onto a tray or place. Use a spoon to move the rice around to get rid of all the hot steam. If you do not do this, the sticky rice will go soggy.

The sticky rice is then ready to be eaten. It can also be kept to eat later in the day.

Roasted Ground Sticky Rice used to be used in curried and stir-fries to make the sauce thicker instead of tapioca flour or corn flour. It is still used in some dishes today to give the sauce a thicker texture.

To make roasted, ground sticky rice, put some grains of sticky rice into a wok over a low heat and roast until they become a brown color. Then put the roasted sticky rice into a mortar and pound well with a pestle until it becomes a powder.

Source : PASSION FOR THAI COOKING, A