Delicious Sticky Rice | Glutinous Rice

Any kind of rice will get sticky to a certain degree when cooked, but sticky rice, also known as glutinous (glue-like) rice, is a special kind of short grain rice that becomes extra sticky when cooked. This type of rice is widely used in Asia as part of their cuisine.

The Chinese has a dish where the steamed botan rice (another name for it) is stuffed with different goodies like barbeque pork, sausage, dried shrimp, and mushroom. They also ground the sticky rice to make flour which is then used to make sweet filled dumplings and a special cake usually eaten at Chinese New Year.

You are probably familiar with mochi, a traditional Japanese cake which is made from mochi rice, another appropriate name for sticky rice. Mochi can either have fillings like sweet bean paste and ground peanuts, or be eaten plain. This cake is also a common New Year's day treat although you can also find it year round.

Many other countries such as Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, and the Philippines use glutinous rice to make a variety of delicious main dishes and desserts.

While there are many yummy dishes you can make or eat with sticky rice, I don't usually eat it with soup. To me it doesn't taste good as the starch is dissolved in the soup, altering the flavor. But that could be just me :)

Also worth mentioning is that besides the more common white, there are also black and purple variants of glutinous rice.