If you’re a regular at the Thai restaurant down the street from your house, you have likely tried mango sticky rice, or khao niao mamuang. Simple in appearance but complex and delicious in taste, khao niao mamuang is actually Thailand’s national dessert.
Growing up a Thai-American, eating this dessert always made me feel a little more connected to my heritage. It’s also the perfect mix of complementary textures and flavors, with the sweet, ripe mango adding a juicy fruitiness to coconut milk-soaked sticky rice, and crispy mung beans or toasted sesame seeds sprinkled on top to provide just a bit of crunch.
In Thailand, mango sticky rice just makes sense. The lives of Thais have been so intrinsically bound to rice, or khao, since ancient times. Besides eating it at practically every meal, Thais believe in the goddess of rice, Mae Phosop, who guards rice crops and helps them to…
