Monday, April 27, 2009

Teaching and Thai!

I taught my last class on Friday. No more teaching, preparing for class, correcting their worksheets, giving them quizzes and setting up the lab. Am I sad? Hell, no! I somehow thought American kids are smarter than Indian ones (this comes from looking at some of my classmates who are super intelligent). But these kids proved me wrong. They are dumb as stone- they cannot follow simple instructions, you ask them to type the assignments, they bring a hand written one. You ask them to cite references in a given format, they will do it in their own format (no, creativity is not important in this class!). Plus, last week I had a student who complained that I was too hard and didn't give him a good grade. Yawwwnn! My boy, I was the easiest teaching assistant around, never gave you guys tough quizzes and was so lenient in corrections. Nah, I did not bother arguing with him (I am horribly lazy- even to stand up for myself ;) ) I just asked him to go talk to the prof. in-charge. I knew she would definitely side with me heheehee...

Anyways, the end of something so great should be celebrated no? And I completely agree with A- yes, I do cook for events! I know there is a vegan- Thai (or Thai-vegan, does it matter? :P) event going on (because anywhere I look, pad-thai stares back at me). Now, if I have to try anything new, I usually try a sweet dish because however bad it tastes J will eat it- because of the sugar ;P. When I first landed in this country, J made me taste this awesome Thai sticky rice with mango in a Thai restaurant (where else, so duh!) instantly hooked I say! I looked around and found a few decent recipes. What I am giving here is most definitely NOT authentic, you need to steam cook the rice in a special Thai steamer or bamboo steamer, I ain't got one, will not buy one just for this purpose! The only authentic thing I did was make my own coconut milk- now everyone say, 'good job SJ'. Without further ado, ladies and gentleman (yes, its singular because the only man who reads my blog is J!) I present to you,

sticky rice1

Thai Sticky Rice with Mango:
1 cup sticky rice (this is not Jasmine rice. Sticky rice/glutinous rice is short and white in colour. I bought it at a Korean market)
1.5 cups coconut milk (If you are hardworking like me, make it at home ;P )
1/4 cup sugar (remember J is a sugar addict, you have to adjust it to your level)
1/4 tsp salt
1 sweet mango

1) Soak the rice for 30 mins. Cook the rice with 1.5 cups water till soft
2) Simmer the coconut milk, sugar and salt till the sugar dissolves and it becomes slightly thick (best to do this on low heat and stir occasionaly)
3) Reserve 1/4 cup of the coconut sauce. Once the rice is cooked and while its still hot, add the remaining coconut sauce to the rice, mix using a fork. The rice will absorb all the sauce. Cover and let it sit for 15 mins.
4) To serve just scoop out the rice onto a plate, drizzle some of the coconut sauce and add the mango slices on top of the rice. Tuck in!

Sticky rice 5

This lovely dessert goes to Priya, who is hosting the Vegan-World Thai (finally got it right!), an event started by Vaishali.

Note: This is a very filling dessert, I could manage to eat only 5-6 spoons at a sitting. If you are a small family with not a great inclination towards sweets, I would recommend making this with just 1/2 cup rice.

I also made A&N's lemon rasam. Its a keeper! The photo does not do justice, it was already 2 pm and both of us were starving- so could not bother with background, light etc etc.

Lemon rasam

16 comments:

  1. Looks yummy..glad you r having break now ..from teaching ;)

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  2. Nice one SJ...Like the pics your take, really neat ! That mango slice looks awesome...Never tried sticky rice, somehow that name doesnt tempt me !

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  3. I love the mangoes man. Whatte colour!

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  4. Whoever told you that US kids are smarter than Indian kids? OYY! US kids are spoiled rotten in schools here, we don't get away with 1/4 of things they do here than in India. It's way different way learning and teaching here. Both good and bad.My son still has school until June 15th, Trisha is done after this week except exams and graduation.

    Hmm..!! Dessert looks although I can't say the name and rasam is to die for.
    (check your mail from N)

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  5. My first time here. Love the way you write, and you've got Great sense of humor. Great job on the pics too! :-)

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  6. Am just drooling looking at those cute mango slices! I should try this sticky rice sometime. Heard a lot abt it but havent tried it!

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  7. Hey this is fabulous..! yummy click too!

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  8. We brought some mangoes from India this time and I was planning on making this dessert this weekend! I've only tried it outside at this Thai restaurant and it tasted so good! They add a few toasted mung beans on top too, for added crunch. And its salty as much as its sweet. Will try with my own measurements and post soon :)

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  9. @ Priti,Sharmilee,Srilakshmi,Ashakka, Sanghi,
    Thank u very much

    @Arch,
    You should try it. Try it a restrnt if you like it make it at home.

    @nandu,
    No reply for u

    @Nags,
    I have not had one with moong beans ...would love to see your version!

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  10. Haa..this is so easy n somehow reminds me of palpayasam..:P..Liked the pics..:)

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  11. I am suffering from a condition called CDD (Concentration Deficit Disorder) after seeing that damn pic of ur dish. Can't concentrate on anything beyond the mango slices. Even the onion and tomato am cutting for my dal tadka looks like juicy alphonso mangoes to me.

    Haa me too don't need a bamboo steamer to cook this sticky rice. Just need to tell my hubby to cook any rice and it comes out perfectly sticky..

    So happy Independence day to you...got urself freed from those 14 dingbats haan?? So what's up next?? How about teaching some smart H4 wives to get rid of their internet addiction and write on paper with pen the old fashioned way?

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  12. looks so yummy....!nice clicks!

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  13. Nice dessert..Looking like palpayasam...lovely mango colour..

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  14. @Varsha,
    Pal payasam! How dare you equate the grand 'Khaaw neow ma-muang' to pal payasam? How? :P

    @Aruna & Prathibha,
    Thanks

    @Yakshi,
    You don't get mangoes in your part of the world? You get mango pulp? If yes then I have a dish just for you! We should seriously get down to writing that manual or at least patent it before someone steals our idea!

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  15. Hi SJ, First time here and you have a great blog. Loved the sticky mango rice, my hubby is a big fan of Thai food and he loves this dessert. I bought sticky rice from korean market a while back but haven't got around to make the dish. Now that I have your recipe, I'm gonna make this weekend. Will let you know how it turned out.

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