Sunday, March 2, 2008

Dim Sum Dessert

I love coconut and I also love the chewy wonderful texture of sushi rice, so when I bought a new recipe book on dim sum and found a recipe for Sweet Coconut Rice Bars I couldn't wait to make them.

Sweet Coconut Rice Bars

Bar:

  • 2.5 c. uncooked glutinous rice
  • 2.25 c. thick coconut milk
  • .5 c. superfine sugar

Topping:

  • 1.25 c. unsweetened dried shredded coconut
  • .25 c. thick coconut milk
  • .5 c. shaved palm sugar or dark brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp. water

Recipe:

  1. cook glutinous rice
  2. heat rice, coconut milk, and sugar in medium heavy bottom saucepan until liquid is absorbed
  3. spread rice in parchment lined baking pan
  4. refrigerate until firm
  5. combine shredded coconut and coconut milk in bowl
  6. heat sugar and water in saucepan until slightly thickened
  7. stir shredded coconut mix and sugar syrup until well combined
  8. spread topping over rice and chill for another hour

Although these bars came out rather tasty and addictive, there are some thing I would do differently next time. The recipe calls for thick coconut milk but all I could find was cream of coconut. The recipe states that you can dilute coconut cream into thick coconut milk by adding water. I mistakenly confused coconut cream with cream of coconut and the result was less coconutty than I would have liked. Next time I will simply mix up the coconut cream and use it straight. I would also cut this recipe in half as it makes more than 2 people can eat in a weeks worth of desserts.