Ingredients
| 250g (1 cup) sticky rice, soaked in cold water for 4-12 hours | |
| 350ml coconut milk | |
| ¼ cup coconut, light brown or caster sugar | |
| ½ teaspoon salt | |
| 250g frozen or 4 large fresh banana leaves (buy frozen at specialist supermarkets or online) | |
| 2 bananas, peeled | |
| juice of ½ lemon | |
| 75g chocolate, roughly chopped | |
| ice cream, to serve |
One of my favourite Thai street foods, khao niew bing makes a great dessert for a barbecue dinner. The sweet coconut rice is usually filled with taro or small sweet bananas but I have done more untraditional (Kiwi-style) banana and chocolate.
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Instructions
| 1. | Drain the rice and rinse a couple of times. |
| 2. | Put the coconut milk and sugar in a saucepan and heat to bubbling, stirring to dissolve the sugar. |
| 3. | Once bubbling, add the rice and salt, heat again until bubbling then reduce the heat to very low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes without disturbing. |
| 4. | Once cooked, leave to sit for 10 minutes covered, then uncover and stir with a fork. Divide into 8 portions. |
| 5. | Gently wash the banana leaves with water and wipe clean. |
| 6. | Trim off the hard stem part and cut 8 pieces, about 20cm x 25cm. Keep the small pieces in case you need them. |
| 7. | Cut the bananas in half lengthwise then crosswise to get 8 pieces. Toss in a bowl with the lemon juice. |
| 8. | Put a piece of banana leaf, shiny side down on a board. Top with one portion of rice and press it into a 6cm x 10cm rectangle. |
| 9. | Top with some chocolate and a piece of banana. Fold over one long side and roll over to wrap, tucking over the ends last. |
| 10. | If the leaf splits, you can use a small extra piece, running the ribs the opposite way, to patch the tear. |
| 11. | To serve, heat a barbecue or grill to hot and cook for 5 minutes on each side. Serve hot with ice cream. |
Recipes & food styling Fiona Smith / Photography Aaron McLean / Styling Jess Hemmings