Thai Mango Sticky Rice Cocktail

Everyone’s favorite Thai dessert is mango and sticky rice, and now you can have it in a holiday cocktail! I came up with this recipe for the live cooking class I hosted with my Sabai Talk Podcast co-host, Chef Hong Thaimee. I wanted to create a Thai-flavored cocktail with a flavor combination that I know would be a guaranteed hit, and it was. The secret is the clever technique called “rice washing” which makes the cocktail exceptionally smooth

Ingredients and notes

Here are all the ingredients you will need and important notes about them. For amounts, consult complete recipe card under.

• Mango juice. Get the best mango juice possible as the flavor of the cocktail largely depends on the quality of the juice. Pure mango juice is difficult to find, so a blend is fine, as long as it still has a distinct mango flavor. You can also blend mango pieces and make your own juice, more on that later.
• Vodka. I tested this cocktail with various spirits, including gin, rum, and even mezcal! They actually all tasted great, but I decided to stick with the neutral-flavored vodka to preserve the flavor profile of the mango sticky rice. Other alcohols alter the flavor of the drink too much, but you can definitely experiment.
• Coconut milk. Since it won’t be cooked and is one of the two main flavors of the drink, good quality coconut milk is important. I use Aroy D brand UHT paper carton (not can). You can also read my article all about coconut milk to find out how to choose the best one.
• Pandan leaf. Pandan is to Thai dessert what vanilla is to Western desserts. It has a delicious floral aroma that goes very well with coconut milk. Look for it wherever you buy Thai groceries, and you can use fresh or frozen leaves. If you can’t find it, it’s okay to leave it out. If you have pandan extract, you can add it a drop at a time until you can smell it, but don’t overdo it because it can have a chemical taste if overdone.
• Raw white rice. This is optional, but it will help make your cocktail smoother with the “rice washing” technique (more details below). You can use any type of white rice as we only need the starch, but I used Thai glutinous rice (sticky rice) as it is the starchiest and keeps with the mango sticky rice theme :).
• Ice cubes.

How to make mango sticky rice cocktail

Here’s a bird’s eye view of the process. Full instructions are in recipe card under. We apologize for the low quality images as these are screenshots taken from live cooking class which I encourage you to watch!

1. Grind the pandan leaves with a splash of vodka until the leaves are bruised and slightly broken. You can also use a cocktail muddler.
2. Add the remaining vodka and stir or shake to combine.
3. Filter the vodka, discarding the pandan leaves.
4. In a shaker, combine the mango juice, pandan vodka, coconut milk, rice and ice cubes and shake until completely cool. Pour into a serving glass through a strainer. You can serve the cocktail with ice in a rocks glass, or without ice in a martini glass.

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