Sticky rice and mango are not solely a Thai invention. They are no stranger to me and to fellow Cebuanos. As a matter of fact, I grew up with this in Cebu: Sticky rice + ripe mango + pure cacao chocolate drink as our traditional family breakfast in the weekends. This was one of the things that I look forward to in the weekends as a young kid.
For those visiting Cebu, you can order this at some local restaurants and particularly at Café Laguna which serves the sticky rice (puto) + mango (mangga) + cacao drink (tsokolate) as a standard item in their menu.
In Thailand, my parents and I found a different kind of sticky rice. Many Thais offer them in tricolour (white, green and blue), and sometimes, in quadricolour as well (white, green, blue and orange). Additionally, they also offer some coco infused sauce to dress and slather on top of the sticky rice and mango.
The tricolour however is the most popular version on offer that I have seen so far. I have seen them hawked on the streets of Bangkok, as well as here at the Damnoen Saduak floating market in the province of Ratchaburi. The floating market is approximately 100 kilometres from Bangkok.
The green sticky rice is infused with pandan leaves flavour and colouring, the blue with butterfly pea flower and the orange with pumpkin vegetable. They all come from three different types of infusion sources: leaf, flower and vegetable. The white of course is the natural colour of the sticky rice.
My parents and I made sure we bought from the long tail boat vendors. It is a way of showing our thank you, helping them with their livelihood and supporting the floating market culture. My mom actually bought a lot of fruits from a local non-long tail boat vendor. Unfortunately my mom is not in the best physical condition to be haggling with someone selling from a boat. The market can get very busy and hectic so it was better for her to buy from the fruit stalls.
I however recommend to everyone visiting any floating market in Thailand: Please do buy from the long tail boat vendors. You are not only supporting them, but you are also making sure that the floating market tradition lives on in the next years.
We took the tricolour sticky rice and mango with us to a café. I saw this café (I think this was part of the Madame Paew establishments) along the floating market which gives a fantastic view to the whole trading action on the water. We are ordering some chilled iced coffee to go with it. When you are in South East Asia, you will find your body asking for fluids the whole time.
Can I say that this tricolour sticky rice + mango + coco infused sauce was very delicious? The Thai mango could even rival the sweetness and silkiness of the delicious mangoes we have in Cebu!
Travel Period: November 2015
Destination: Damnoen Saduak (Ratchaburi), Thailand
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