Lately I’ve been vacillating between craving warm and creamy comfort food and something light and fruity. Today’s recipe is a bit of a mash-up. It combines sticky Thai sweet black rice with the tropical flavours of papaya and kiwi. Dried mango, toasted coconut flakes, and pomegranate seeds provide the 3 c’s – crunch, contrast, and colour! The whole delicious smorgasbord is topped with a blueberry yogurt sauce. You can make this completely sugar free, or add a bit of your favourite sweetener. I’m Canadian, eh, so I like it with a bit of maple syrup, but you’re the boss. This makes a great breakfast, snack, or dessert.
It’s best if you cook the rice ahead of time and let it cool in the fridge, but it will still work if you don’t have time to do that.
PS – If you’re feeling fancy, you can do this all up in a rice wrap and serve the yogurt sauce on the side.
Serves 4 approx.
Ingredients
Note: I like a high fruit to rice ratio – this recipe makes 2 cups of rice and 4 plus cups of fruit. Adjust your amounts accordingly. Also, feel free to swap out the types of fruit. For example, you might have fresh mango, instead of dried, and then use dried papaya or pineapple. It’s hard to go wrong!
- 1 cup Sweet Black Thai Rice
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups papaya, cubed
- 2 cups kiwi, cubed
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted (place in single layer on baking sheet and toast at 350 for about 8 minutes)
- 1/2 cup dried mango, sliced thinly (I use scissors to cut it)
- 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
- 4 cups (1 litre) blueberry juice (blackberry, pomegranate, sour cherry would also be delicious)
- Approx. 2 cups plain yogurt (soy or dairy, choose your poison)
- Optional: 1 tablespoon of your favourite sweetener
Instructions
Cooking the rice and making the blueberry reduction take about 45 minutes each, so you can get both started at the same time. If you don’t already have a stock of toasted coconut, make that at the same time as well. Make extra and store it in an airtight container.
- Cook the rice. (You can do this ahead of time.)
- Add the coconut oil to a large saucepan and heat until hot. Add the cup of rice and stir it around, coating the rice with the oil. Stirring occasionally, toast the rice for about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Transfer the toasted rice to a medium saucepan with a lid. Add 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for about 45 minutes until the water is absorbed. The rice should be soft and chewy. It is naturally quite gummy too.
- Make the blueberry yogurt sauce. (You can do this ahead of time.)
- Put the blueberry juice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium heat. Simmer until the juice is reduced to 1 cup. Let it cool.
- Combine the reduced blueberry juice with the yogurt. Start with about 1 cup yogurt and add more as needed to obtain your desired sauciness level.
- Combine the rice with the papaya and kiwi. I like a high fruit to rice ratio, but you may want more rice, less fruit.
- Put the rice/fruit mix into your serving bowls.
- Pour on the sauce, and top with the dried mango, toasted coconut flakes, and the pomegranate seeds.
You can also serve this in rice wraps. Follow the instructions on your wrap package for softening the wrap.
