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You might have encountered these white rice grains labeled as glutenous rice or sweet rice in Asian markets. Do not mistake it with regular white rice (such as jasmine or basmati rice). When it is cooked, it is much more sticky than regular white rice. That is why it is called “Sticky rice” in all recipes.

Source of image: Just one cookbook
The method to cook the sweet rice is also different than regular white rice. Generally, the best way to cook sweet rice is that soak the rice in water for a long time and then steam in a bamboo (or stainless steel) steamer. There are other methods to cook sweet rice in a rice cooker, or even with a microwave. (7 ways of cooking sticky rice located in the Learning Corner)
Here are some other delicious recipes made from sticky rice:


In this recipe, it features red beans and two types of mung beans that makes the dish nutritious, delicious, and beautiful. With three colors from the beans, the dish is hereby called Tricolor sticky rice.
Ingredients: (for 3 servings)
- Raw sweet rice: 1 cup
- Split mung bean: 1/3 cup
- Unsplit mung bean: 1/3 cup
- Red bean: 1/3 cup
- A pinch of salt
- Sugar: 1.5 – 2 tablespoons
- Shredded coconut: 1.5 – 2 tablespoons
Preparation:
- Rinse the rice and the beans with copious amount of water to remove dirt and unwanted artificial color, then soak in copious amount of water overnight. The more you soak, the softer the rice but do not exceed 24 hours. The rice and beans should be soaked separately.
- After soaking for a desired time, drain the rice and beans, add a pinch of salt then mix altogether and place the mixture into the bamboo steamer lined with cheesecloth. Flatten out the rice and beans in the cheesecloth so that they could be steamed evenly.
- Place the steamer (with the rice and beans covered in cheesecloth inside) on top of a gentle-boiling water pot. Steam for 30 minutes at medium-low heat.
- After 30 minutes, open the cheesecloth to check the rice and mung bean, then add the sugar and shredded coconut to the rice, mix well so that the sugar and coconut are evenly distributed to the rice. Cover and steam about 3-5 minutes to dissolve the sugar. Then it’s ready to be serve!
Total time: at least 12 hours 35 minutes (12 hours of soaking + 35 minutes of cooking)
Notes: With long soaking time and about 30 minutes of steaming, the rice and beans are fully cooked, and the beans are still able to keep the color shade, resulting in our tricolor sticky rice. It is not recommended to cook the beans (especially red beans) before steaming with the rice because the color will fade significantly.
That’s it for my Tricolor sticky rice. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
And thank you again for your support!

Tricolor sticky rice
Equipment
- 1 Bamboo steamer
- Cheesecloth
Ingredients
- 1 cup Sweet rice
- ⅓ cup Split mung bean
- ⅓ cup Regular mung bean
- ⅓ cup Red bean
- A pinch of salt
- 1.5 – 2 tbsp Sugar (depends on how sweet you want)
- 1.5 – 2 tbsp Shredded coconut (can be adjusted to taste)
- Copious amount of water for soaking and steaming
Instructions
- Rinse the rice and beans to remove dirt and artificial colors or preservatives.
- Soak the rice and beans separately in copious amount of water overnight. The more you soak, the softer the rice but do not exceed 24 hours.
- Drain the rice and beans, add a pinch of salt then mix altogether and place the mixture into the bamboo steamer lined with cheesecloth. Flatten out the rice & beans in the cheesecloth so that they could be steamed evenly later on.
- Bring a water pot to gentle boil (medium-high heat first then reduce to low heat). Place the steamer (with the rice and beans covered in cheesecloth inside) on top of the water pot. Steam for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, open the cheesecloth to check the rice and mung bean. They should be fully cooked by then. Add the sugar and shredded coconut to the rice, mix well so that the sugar and coconut are evenly distributed to the rice. Cover and steam about 3-5 minutes to dissolve the sugar. Then it’s ready to be serve!
Notes
- If you don’t have a bamboo steamer, please refer to this link for other methods to cook sticky rice: 7 ways of cooking sticky rice
- With long soaking time and about 30 minutes of steaming, the rice and beans are fully cooked, and the beans are still able to keep the color shade, resulting in our tricolor sticky rice. It is not recommended to cook the beans (especially red beans) before steaming with the rice because the color will fade significantly.
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