2 for 1: Sticky Rice Sashimi

As the weather slowly begins to warm up, I am trying to take complete advantage of the beautiful spring that Washington DC offers. This past weekend, I ventured to Eastern Market, DC's historic farmer's market near Capitol South. Now, although I am from Cleveland, I do take pride in my city's farmer's market. The West Side Market is, well, the shit. It is an ancient colosseum filled with every variety of produce, meat, home made pastas, chocolate, prepared foods and about anything else you could ever imagine. Comparably, Eastern Market is much smaller with less prepared foods but I did manage to find some vendors that suited me well.

Besides a pleasantly full stomach from Tortilla Cafe, I left with the freshest smelling mangoes you could ever imagine, curry paste, and coconut milk. Seriously, these mangoes smelled like they were just picked off the tree in Mexico.

Along with an easy chicken and vegetables with curry sauce, I decided to make mango sticky rice, to go along with the thai theme. I have recently begun to love sticky rice, and to figure out how easy it was to make was like a dream come true. As my wonderful meal came to an end, I had eaten all but one bite of my mango sticky rice. It just so happened that this remaining bite looked a lot like a piece of sashimi that you would get at a sushi restaurant. With my leftover mango and rice (the recipe makes a lot) I decided to recreate this sushi look-a-like.

Here's the recipe, adapted from allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups uncooked short-grain white rice

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups coconut milk

1 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 mangoes, peeled and sliced

*Optional garnishes: sesame seeds, cinnamon sugar, salt and pepper

Directions

Combine the rice and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until water is absorbed, about 15 minutes

While the rice cooks, mix together coconut milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside.

Stir the cooked rice into the coconut milk mixture and cover. Allow to cool for one hour.

To make sashimi, take about 2 tablespoons worth of rice and form into a 2 x 1 x 1 inch patty. Cover with a small slice of mango. Sprinkle with garnish, if desired.

Look at the cuties!!

My favorite was- surprisingly- the one I sprinkled with salt and pepper!

Try mixing cayenne pepper with cinnamon, sugar and salt, too.