This black sticky rice with coconut cream draws inspiration from Thailand. The best part? It’s all made in a slow cooker.

bamboo bowl filled with a sweet rice dessert

Rizogalo – the Greek version of rice pudding) is still one of my most cherished desserts in the Greek kitchen.

There’s just something so utterly right about it.

Creamy milk. Perfectly cooked rice. And cinnamon!

But it’s not the only rice pudding out there.

2 bamboo bowls filled with with a sweet rice dessert

🥘 Ingredients

1 cup glutinous rice, black if possible
3 cups of water
50 g palm sugar
2 tablespoon sugar, caster or superfine
6 tablespoon coconut cream

Discovering sticky rice

While travelling around South East Asia as a young buck, my taste buds and I stumbled upon this new delight called “sticky rice“.

Enjoyed either in sweet or savoury form, this glutinous rice quickly became a favourite. I remember dipping morsels of sticky rice into a fiery green curry in the middle of a very humid, sweltering Bangkok.

And then I discovered mango sticky rice.

And just like that, my world changed.

It was a love affair bigger than Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neill in “Love Story”! I was a man obsessed!

Related: See my mango coconut cake for further tropical inspiration.

Black sticky rice is even better

It was intriguing to discover that a deep, dark purple version of this rice existed!

Once cooked the black sticky rice had a nutty, yet naturally sweet flavour. When adding the palm sugar and topping it with coconut cream, I was beside myself!

If you have yet to try this combination, you are missing out on one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Yes.

I take my rice desserts quite seriously!

2 bamboo bowls filled with black rice and coconut cream

🔪 Instructions

Wash the rice under cold water until the water runs clear.
Add the rice and water to your slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2:45-3 hours until the water has been absorbed and the rice is cooked.
Transfer the cooked rice to a saucepan and place on medium heat.
Add the grated palm sugar and caster sugar and stir until both sugars have completely dissolved.
Take off the heat and allow to come to room temperature before serving with coconut cream.

In all the years I’ve enjoyed this I never once attempted it myself.

Then I discovered the slow cooker.

Traditionally, the method involves soaking the rice for at least 6 hours or overnight. Then you have to boil it and watch it while it cooks.

With the slow cooker, it was just a matter of setting it and forgetting it.

Approximately two hours and forty-five minutes later, I had a perfectly cooked black sticky rice.

Admittedly this black sticky rice with coconut cream did look a lot like congee, but that familiar taste and texture was there.

Once it was sweetened, I added a heavy dose of coconut cream and impatiently photographed it.

📖 Variations

Try the famous Greek rice pudding known as rizogalo - it will become your new favourite!

📋 Recipe

Black Sticky Rice With Coconut Cream

Author: Peter G

A traditional and tantalising Thai dessert made with black sticky rice and topped with luscious coconut cream.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 3

Total Time 3 10

Cuisine Thai

Servings serves

Ingredients

▢ 1 cup glutinous rice, black if possible
▢ 3 cups water
▢ 50 g palm sugar
▢ 2 tablespoon sugar, caster or superfine
▢ 6 tablespoon coconut cream

Instructions

Wash the rice under cold water until the water runs clear.
Add the rice and water to your slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2:45-3 hours until the water has been absorbed and the rice is cooked.
Transfer the cooked rice to a saucepan and place on medium heat.
Add the grated palm sugar and caster sugar and stir until both sugars have completely dissolved.
Take off the heat and allow to come to room temperature before serving with coconut cream.

Nutrition

Calories: 206 kcal | Carbohydrates: 37 g | Protein: 3 g | Fat: 5 g | Saturated Fat: 5 g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

Made this recipe?Let me know how you went and tag @souvlakiman on Instagram!

Black Sticky Rice with Coconut Cream