Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango and the most beautiful weather Philly has ever known

Spring is here! Not officially, but today it was 72 degrees here in Philly. People are out in shorts and sunglasses, tank tops and flip-flops, and huge smiles. The sun and grass are fantastic. I snuck away some rice from home over break and have been waiting to try this recipe ever since.
Logically, rice should be able to cook just like pasta or boba. However, know ahead of time that this is not the case; rice takes a lot longer to cook and has different rules.

Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango is a delicious and sunny dessert (although, from personal experience, I can say it also works well as dinner). The recipe is Thai, and it is fantastically simple and great for sharing.

Here are the directions, loosely based off of the recipe from Thai Table. You will need:

~ About a cup of rice
~ A mango
~ Half a can of coconut milk
~ Water
~ 3 tablespoons of sugar
~ salt

Put the rice in a handy dandy microwavable bowl, and pour the coconut milk, sugar, and salt on top of it. Microwave it on high for 3 minutes, take out and stir, then add enough water so that there is a about 3/4 inch on top. Stir again and let sit for about 2 minutes. Microwave on high for 2 more minutes. Repeat this process until the rice is tender, and all of water is absorbed. Serve the rice hot next to a cut mango. For tips on cutting mango see this about.com post.

Sprinkle salt and sugar on top of the rice and Omnom! Everyone enjoy the incredible weather!

Custard Diary: Tapioca Pudding

Wow. So, this blog was derailed for awhile... however, I think enough things have been moved around that we are back in business.
How is everyone!? Is anyone on spring break and such?

Alright, so one idea with which I have been playing is custards. While home for break I found tapioca pearls and decided that tapioca pudding was the way to go.

Now, the reason that this is the first entry of the Custard Diary is that custard can be hard enough on the stove; the microwave adds an new twist. The problem is to not let the egg cook too much.

Anywho, here's what you need for the recipe (taken somewhat from the box of Bascom's tapioca pearls):

1/4 cup of tapioca pearls
3/2 cup of milk
dash of vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
dash of salt
dash of cinnamon
1 egg

First, beat the eggs until the whites are completely broken/liquified. Mix in everything but the pearls. Proceed to cook for 1 minute on high and then stir. Repeat this 5 more times or until some eggs bits separate. Then strain out the cooked egg and add the tapioca. Cook on 1 minute for high and stir for 3 more times or until the tapioca is tender. Cool in the refridgerator and serve.

So now for the future revisions for this recipe. This recipe will leave you with a good custard, but will not leave you with a smooth custard. Possible changes would be to add a little bit of lemon juice or vinegar to keep the egg from coagulating. Also, you could potentially add the egg at the end and stir it in then.

anyway, Omnom!