Sticky Rice and Jasmine Rice: Thailand's Two Staples

Rice is so central to Thai life that the common way of saying "to eat" is gin khao, literally "eat rice". But Thailand does not eat one rice. It eats two, and they are as different from each other as bread and pasta.

Jasmine rice is the fragrant, separate-grained rice of the central plains and the south. Sticky rice, also called glutinous rice, is the chewy, clinging rice of the north and northeast. Each is cooked differently, eaten differently and paired with its own style of food.

What makes them different

The difference comes down to starch. Rice starch is made of two main components, amylose and amylopectin. Jasmine rice contains a moderate amount of amylose, which helps the grains stay separate and fluffy once cooked. Glutinous rice contains almost no amylose and is nearly all amylopectin, which is what makes the cooked grains turn glossy and stick together in a mass.

Despite the name, glutinous rice contains no gluten. The word refers to its glue-like texture, not to wheat protein.

Uncooked, the two are easy to tell apart. Jasmine rice grains are long and slightly translucent. Sticky rice grains are shorter, fatter and an opaque chalky white.

Jasmine rice

Thai jasmine rice is known in Thailand as khao hom mali. Its fragrance, often compared to pandan leaves or popcorn, comes largely from a natural aroma compound called 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which is also found in pandan. Much of the best-known jasmine rice is grown in the northeast, including the Thung Kula Ronghai plains, which has protected geographical indication status for its hom mali rice.

It is ironic that the northeast grows so much jasmine rice while its own people mostly eat sticky rice. In central and southern Thailand, though, plain steamed jasmine rice (sometimes called khao suay, "beautiful rice") is the base of almost every meal. Curries, stir-fries, soups and omelettes are all spooned over it or eaten alongside it.

Its fragrance is strongest in rice from the most recent harvest, which is why some packets advertise new crop rice. Fresh rice also needs slightly less water than older rice.

Cooking jasmine rice

Jasmine rice is cooked by absorption, in a pot or rice cooker:

1. Rinse the rice in a bowl of cold water, swirling with your hand, and pour off the cloudy water. Repeat two or three times until the water runs mostly clear.
2. Drain well and put in a heavy pan with water. A good starting point is around 1 to 1.25 cups of water for each cup of rice. Use the lower end for new crop rice.
3. Bring to the boil, cover, reduce the heat to very low and cook for about 15 minutes, without lifting the lid.
4. Turn off the heat and leave it covered for another 10 minutes, then fluff gently with a spoon or fork.

A rice cooker makes this almost foolproof, and is found in most Thai kitchens. Leftover jasmine rice, cooled and refrigerated, is ideal for fried rice the next day, as freshly cooked rice turns mushy in the wok.

Sticky rice

Sticky rice (khao niao) is the everyday rice of northern Thailand and Isaan, and the national staple of neighbouring Laos. It is eaten by hand: you pinch off a piece, roll it lightly into a ball with your fingers and use it to scoop up larb, dip into nam jim jaew or nam prik, or eat alongside grilled meat. Som tam, gai yang and sticky rice is one of the classic meals of the northeast.

It is usually served in a small lidded basket woven from bamboo or rattan, called a kratip, which keeps the rice warm and stops it drying out. Sticky rice is also the base of many Thai sweets, most famously mango sticky rice, where it is soaked in sweetened, salted coconut milk.

Cooking sticky rice

Sticky rice is steamed, not boiled. If you cook it in water like jasmine rice, it turns into a gluey paste. The traditional equipment is a cone-shaped woven bamboo basket set over a tall, narrow pot, but a regular steamer lined with muslin or a clean cloth works well.

1. Rinse the rice in cold water until the water runs fairly clear.
2. Cover with plenty of fresh water and soak for at least four hours, or overnight. The grains should turn bright white and break easily between your fingers.
3. Drain thoroughly and spread the rice in the cloth-lined steamer or bamboo basket.
4. Steam over boiling water for about 20 to 25 minutes. Halfway through, flip the whole mass of rice over, so the top layer cooks as evenly as the bottom.
5. The rice is done when every grain is translucent, shiny and chewy, with no hard white centres.
6. Turn it out, fluff it briefly with a wooden spoon to release steam, then keep it covered in a basket or a container with a lid.

Sticky rice hardens as it cools and dries in the open air, so keep it covered. It reheats well in a steamer or, wrapped in a damp cloth, in a microwave.

Rice beyond the bowl

Both rices turn up in other forms throughout Thai cooking. Toasted sticky rice, ground into a coarse powder (khao khua), gives larb and nam tok their nutty crunch and thickens nam jim jaew. Jasmine rice is simmered into khao tom, a comforting rice soup often eaten for breakfast or late at night. Rice is also ground into flour and made into noodles, from the fresh, fermented khanom jeen to the dried rice sticks of pad Thai.

Sticky rice is roasted inside bamboo tubes with coconut milk as khao lam, grilled in small patties brushed with egg, and wrapped in banana leaves with fillings for snacks and sweets. In the north and northeast, an entire meal can be built around a basket of it.

When cooking Thai food at home, it is worth matching the rice to the dish. Curries from the centre and south belong with jasmine rice. Grilled meats, Isaan salads and northern chilli dips belong with sticky rice. Getting that right makes the food taste much closer to the way it is eaten in Thailand.