Thai · Authentic-ish Thai
Mango Sticky Rice
280 kcal a serving, against 456 for the traditional version. That is 176 kcal off, or 39%, with 3.5g of protein. Serves 4. .
What the traditional version is
A full cup of glutinous rice is soaked, steamed, then drenched in a mixture of coconut cream, sugar and a pinch of salt. After a good soak, it clumps together like a solid, fragrant cake. More coconut cream is poured over the top, and it's served with generous slices of ripe mango. Sweet, sticky and almost fudgy - it's as much about texture as taste.
What changed, and what each change costs
Cut the glutinous rice from 200g to 100g
The rice is half the pleasure and half the damage. Halving it means the pudding's lighter. It's now a base for the mango, not a dense coconut brick.
What it costs you. The rice doesn't stick together quite as impressively. You get soft grains, but the heavy, jelly-like slab is gone. A spoonful now breaks apart much more easily.
Use 200g coconut milk instead of 200g coconut cream
Coconut cream is what makes this rich and, let's be honest, hefty. Tinned coconut milk is thinner and brings much less fat. You keep the scent and most of the flavour, but lose the velvet.
What it costs you. There's less slickness, and you won't get that signature oily sheen. It's a bit more like a rice pudding with tropical ambitions.
Cut the sugar to 30g
60 grams of sugar is a bold move. Cutting it in half brings out more mango and coconut, and steers it away from feeling like condensed milk with rice in it.
What it costs you. The sauce has more tang from the salt and doesn't coat your mouth with syrup. Some might say it's even more grown-up. It's definitely less of a pudding you'd want after a heavy meal.
Add a bit more mango to compensate for less rice
The rice has shrunk, so the fruit has to do more lifting. More mango keeps the pudding feeling fresh, sweet and worth picking up a spoon for.
What it costs you. You'll taste more mango with every bite, which isn't the worst thing in the world. The only real drawback: if you're in this for the rice alone, you'll feel short-changed.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 456 | 280 |
| Protein | 5.9g | 3.5g |
| Fat | 17.9g | 11.2g |
| Saturated fat | 15.5g | 9.6g |
| Carbohydrate | 71.1g | 44.3g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 1.3g | 1.3g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Thai prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. milk.
The method is in the book
This version is gentler on the cream and the sugar, and you'll definitely notice it. The rice isn't as sticky, the coconut hits lighter, and the whole thing ends up closer to a summery rice pudding than the original Thai fantasy. The mango's still the star, though, and if you keep the fruit ripe and the rice warm, no one's going to walk away unhappy - just maybe a bit less weighed down.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Thai, along with 50 more. It is not out yet. The swap kit is free in the meantime.