Cambodian Black Rice Pudding

[Abra]

The last time we went to Vancouver we were lucky enough to eat at Phnom Penh restaurant with JamieMaw and Mooshmouse. At the end of the meal they served us a mysterious red-black cherry-flavored rice concoction. It was peculiarly delicious, and turned out not to have any cherries in it at all.

I guess because I was with two local rock stars, they thought I was a famous chef, and they gave me the recipe for the black rice treat. Not only the recipe, they also gave me the key ingredient

Shanghai yeast balls. Now I've found them at a local market, but at the time I'd never seen them before and so I carried them over the border as gently as eggs. Then, I smashed them all to bits

and strewed the resulting powder over steamed black sticky rice.

I decided to use Chinese black sticky rice instead of Thai, because what they served had very small and shiny grains, whereas the Thai black sticky rice I've seen is relatively long-grained. At the restaurant they said it was Thai rice, with a name that I remember as sounding like Cortina, or some Thai version of that, but I haven't found any rice like that here. The difference turned out to be important, but I didn't know that until the end.

Once the yeast and rice were combined, I put the rice in a bowl, covered well and in a warm spot, for one week. When I uncovered it, it was gruesome

the top was fuzzy and hard, all at the same time. I cracked through the upper crust and came to the "cherry" portion of the stuff

The juice of the rice had become the most gorgeous red. I stirred in sugar, covered it back up, and set it back in its spot for another week.

Each day I'd come by and give a sniff, and every day it smelled like bananas. Really, really ripe bananas. Not cherries, to my surprise. After another week, I stirred it all together

and voila, black rice pudding wine. Because this stuff really goes to your head, with just a few bites. The texture isn't quite as firm as the original version, and the cherry impression isn't as strong, both of which I attribute to having used the wrong rice. If anyone knows the name of the rice I should use, please do tell. And hey, I don't even know the name of this dish. Do you?

Edited April 4, 2006 by Abra (log)

[Mooshmouse]

Wow, Abra, what an impressive effort to replicate that dish! You're a far stronger woman than I am, however, since I highly doubt that I would've been able to get past the gruesome moldy stage, let alone stir the mold right back into the rice. Where's that high-five emoticon?!

So, you say the black-cherry liqueur flavour isn't nearly as potent as the stuff we sampled at Phnom Penh? Verrrrry eeeeenteresting.

[wesza]

Abra:

Was the "Rice" first cooked in the water ? Or did you simply soak the raw rice with Cold Water ? Hot Water ? And even more important how much water proportionate to the rice was recommended ?

Know it's a lot of questions but I generally expect that the method of measuring liquid to rice may be done differently then the Asian standard of using a finger joint to measure the level of water proportionate to the rice in the container.

There are variations of preparing rice, so called sticky, fermented or ripened with cooking being done before, after or even not at all.

Even the timing of when the sugar is added may be important as it can make a big difference.

I'm familiar with many variations of this type of dish, with different types of rice, for different occasions. All of them are fun, my favorites are made with dried plums and apricots being added.

Irwin

[Abra]

I cooked the rice in water 2:1, as recommended for that particular rice. I actually think that a little soupier would have been better.

[BonVivant]

in Vietnam they eat/drink this stuff as a snack. i say eat/drink because it has more liquid which has been fermented, and there are always a few balls of the rice in the same bowl. there's also a white version, btw. both tastes more or less the same to me. yes, the alcohol content is nice i forgot what the name of this thing is but i remember it has the word 'wine'. have to check my notes from last year's trip [if i can find them that is].

[Abra]

BV, if you can find the name, that would be great. I'm also still hoping to find out exactly which rice is optimum. I like this weird concoction!

[barritz]

I communicated about this on another message board and got the reply:

you can go to asian store and fine black rice there. All you need is Yeast, Black rice. Once you cook the rice let it sit and cool down. Also crush the yeast till it solid once that done just sprinkle it on the rice and mix it up and roll it to a ball if you like or put the whole thing in a nice clean pant. Cover it up leave it couple day, make sure you cover the pant with pastic or blanket. It dont have to be black rice, you can also make it from sweet rice to aka sticky rice. It really easy to make My grandma use to make them, she make the best ta paeb ever.

[tristar]

Hi Abra,

This is also available in Indonesia and is called 'Tape Ketan Hitam' translated as 'Fermented Black Sticky Rice'. It can also be produced with white rice but I have never tried that one so cannot comment on the flavour. I cannot help with the name of the rice as it is just called Ketan in Indonesian and I have never see it translated to mean other than 'sticky rice' For more information just 'Google' it!

Strangely enough, the Muslim Indonesians will quite happily eat and drink this dessert although it can contain up tp 10% alcohol!

Regards,

Richard

[Abra]

Interesting! I had a sweet black sticky rice pudding in Indonesia, but didn't know they did the fermentation thing too.

From barritz' post, it looks as if it might be called ta paeb?