Who would have thought that we would write about the next sweet of the bucket list from our quarantine home in Vienna. For all of us this situation is quite surreal and many of us do not know what the next months will bring. However, what we know is that we should do the best out of it and stay home to protect others. The last time we have left our apartment was 13 days ago when we arrived from Bangkok to Vienna. Since then our thoughts are with the memories we could have built travelling around the world and the memories that we have collected so far. Lucky us, lucky you that we did not leave Thailand without another delicious recipe for the sweet bucket list: mango sticky rice. So simple, but so delicious.
Away from full moon parties & batik shirts
After our first days in Thailand and stay on Koh Lipe island, we were looking for a calm place, away from mass tourism and western restaurants. Indeed we did not like Koh Lipe very much. In our search we found the little known island Koh Libong. Let us tell you: if you love swimming in calm sea, responsible tourism, away from full moon parties but the possibility to watch rare animals, then this is paradise for you as well!
Koh Libong is a Muslim island in the Andaman sea that you can reach by speed boat from Koh Lipe or from other neighbouring islands as well as from the Hat Yao Pier in Trang on the main land. One of the main reasons why Koh Libong island is not as crowded as others is that due to being a Muslim island, alcohol and full moon parties are not allowed here. With the little amount of tourists, a little amount of restaurants comes. However, who needs a big choice if one has found THE ONE?
The fishermen´s kitchen
Our `the one´ was Sao´s restaurant the fishermen´s kitchen. Don´t be confused by the name. Of course there is lot´s of fresh seafood in the menu, but Sao, the owner, was always happy to consider our special dietary and prepared the best vegan Thai dishes. Generally can be said that Sao and her employees/family make sure that their guests feel comfortable and can taste authentic Thai food. Only five months ago the restaurant was located about 50 meters further down the road but due to the big demand Sao moved to a larger location to feed all hungry mouths. We can totally understand why – the food is authentic and super delicious for a very good price. Especially the mango sticky rice, THE typical dessert of Thailand is so delicious and we are happy that Sao showed us how to do it.
How to prepare mango sticky rice
Ingredients
- 1 Yellow mango
- 1 cup of rice
- 250ml coconut milk – creamy
- 2 table spoons of granulated sugar
- 1 table spoon mung beans
Tools
- steaming basket or steaming pot
- 1 pot as a steaming basis that fits under the steaming basket
- 1 small pot for the coconut milk
Tipps
- If you cannot find yellow mangos in the supermarket, feel free you to choose any other fruit that you like
- Choose amount of sugar according to your taste
How to
- Wash the uncooked rice corns until the water is clear. Then put them in a bowl with cold water and let it rest for at least three hours.
- Then, prepare hot water on the stove as your steaming basis.
- Put the rice in the steaming basket and start to steam it. Let it steam for 15 to 20 minutes with a lid on top.
- Mix sugar with the coconut milk in a pan and warm it up.
- When the rice is ready, add it to the sugared coconut milk and stir it well. Let it rest without heating it up.
- Meanwhile, prepare the yellow mango. Peel it, cut it, plate it.
- Add the freshly made sticky rice to the mango on the plate and add optional some mung beans on top.
- Enjoy!
What else?
Besides delicious food and beautiful swim spots, one can find the endangered medium sized marine mammal, Dugong. The dugong, vegetarian, is always in search of delicious sea weed and it can find lots at the coast of Koh Libong island. During high tide, visitors have the opportunity, either from a tower, by longtail boat or canoe to watch Dugongs eating and maybe even reproducing, like we did.
Stay home, stay tuned
Reading through our post and looking at these picture, you can probably imagine that the decision to come back home and cancel all our world trip plans was very hard to take. However, we know that someday we can continue our journey. Until then, we will keep you posted with many other delicious recipes from home such as our Doce de Papaia. Whichever sweet you like, stay tuned for the upcoming `How to´ and easter special!
