Khao Neow Vs. Khao Suai

[The Bartender]

Does anyone have first-hand knowledge regarding sticky rice?

Is sticky rice a different strain of rice from white rice? Or can one start with the same strain and cook the rice in a different way to produce different results? Also, if the strains are different, could one start with the white rice strain and manipulate the cooking process to come up with a very "sticky" white rice?

Between four foreigners, we've asked 15 Thais and the vote is split. Some are bragging that their info is coming from their "friend from Issan" and that makes them experts. Others state that persons coming from this area are perhaps...less informed and working under assumptions that are hard to separate from fact. The mere fact that 15 educated Thais can't agree, leads me to believe it's not an easy question to answer--or not as easy to answer as one might think.

And yes, we have way too much time on our hands.

[chownah]

There are two different basic types of rice that are typically grown in Thailand (and a couple of less frequently grown ones). One is called khao neow and from it you can cook khao neow which in English is called sticky rice or glutinous rice. It has alot of waxy carbohydrates (I think they are starches) which give it its stickiness....but it has no glutin so the name glutinous rice can be misleading. The other kind of rice grown is called khao chow and from it you can make khao suai which in English is called steamed rice.

When I first came to Thailand for an extended stay I was offered free cooking lessons along with a bunch of other foreign volunteers. The Thai instructor (who was a college educated woman and not a village farmer) was asked about how to make sticky rice and she said that you used the same rice as steamed rice but cooked it differently.......I found this out before I attended any of her cooking lessons so I just skipped them entirely because I knew from first hand experience from rural farming people that sticky rice when done authentically is made from a different variety of rice.

When cooking sticky rice you have to soak the rice overnite (or about 8 hours)before cooking it and the two people who have told me how to make sticky rice from the steam rice variety did not say to soak it at all.....you can make rice that is sticky by cooking khou chow but it is not authentic sticky rice and I doubt it would taste right....I just asked my wife (northern Thai woman) if people ever make sticky rice from khou chow and she unequivically said no.

Chownah

Edited November 28, 2006 by chownah

[pete_r]

Indeed, white rice grains (after milling, dehulling and complete removal of the bran envelope) are about 90-95% starch d.b., the rest is proteins, lipids and some minerals.

To go one step further, starch is made up of two types of molecules, the linear amylose and the branched amylopectin (both are polymers of glucose). In khao chow the ratio is about 20% amylose and 80% amylopectin. In khao neow, the ratio is 5-10% amylose and 90-95% amylopectin. After cooking, amylopectin is more sticky than amylose, which is the reason for the stickiness of khao neow.

Also, because of its branched structure, amylopectin does not absorb water as easily as amylose during cooking, that's why khao neow needs the overnight soaking.

Khao chow (Oryza sativa) and khao neow (Oryza glutinosa) are definitely two different breeds of rice.