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Luang Prabang khao lam
Sticky rice with black beans
Khao lam (ເຂົ້າຫຼາມ): coconut sticky rice with black beans, roasted in bamboo tubes
Lines of blackened bamboo tubes propped beside smouldering charcoal mark the khao lam sellers on the roads into Luang Prabang, busiest in the cool season after the November harvest, when new-crop sticky rice is at its sweetest. Inside each tube, rice and black beans have cooked slowly in salted coconut milk, picking up a faint smoky, grassy flavour from the bamboo lining. You split the tube, peel back the thin inner skin and eat the dense, chewy, gently sweet log by hand, often on the morning walk or on a bus journey. At home the tubes roast in the oven or over a barbecue, and a lidded dish lined with banana leaf works if you can't get bamboo. Overfilling the tubes is the usual slip: the rice swells, the plug pops and the coconut milk boils away. Chef's tip: soak the rice overnight; well-soaked grains cook evenly right to the centre of the tube.
- Total time
- 90 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
For the rice
- 14 oz glutinous (sticky) rice
- 2 ⅛ oz dried black beans or red beanssoaked overnight
For the coconut milk
- 1 ¾ cups coconut milk
- 2 ⅛ oz sugaror palm sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup water
For roasting
- 4 fresh green bamboo tubes, about 30 cm long and 5 cm wideone end closed by a node; or a lidded ovenproof dish
- 2 banana leavessoftened over a flame or in hot water
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Method
0/11 doneStep 1: Rinse 14 oz glutinous (sticky) rice until the water runs nearly clear, then cover with cold water and soak for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Drain well.
Step 2: Drain the soaked 2 ⅛ oz dried black beans or red beans, cover with fresh water and simmer over a medium heat for 20 minutes, until just tender but holding their shape. Drain and mix into the rice.
20 minStep 3: Warm 1 ¾ cups coconut milk, 2 ⅛ oz sugar, 1 tsp salt and ½ cup water in a pan over a low heat for 2–3 minutes, stirring, just until the sugar dissolves. Don't let it boil.
3 minStep 4: Rinse the 4 fresh green bamboo tubes, about 30 cm long and 5 cm wide tubes and line each one with a strip of 1 banana leaves rolled into a sleeve, so the leaf comes just above the rim.
Step 5: Spoon the rice and beans into the tubes, filling them only two-thirds full and tapping them on the board to settle the grains. Overfilled tubes burst their plugs as the rice swells.
Step 6: Pour in the coconut milk to cover the rice by about 1 cm. Let it soak in for 10 minutes, then top up if the level drops.
10 minStep 7: Plug each tube with a tight roll of the remaining 1 banana leaves. Heat the oven to 400°F (350°F fan), or light a barbecue with medium coals.
Step 8: Lay the tubes in the oven or prop them at an angle beside the coals, plug end up. Roast for 50–60 minutes, turning every 15 minutes, until the outside is charred and the coconut milk has stopped bubbling at the top.
60 minStep 9: If you have no bamboo, line a lidded ovenproof dish with banana leaf, add the rice and coconut milk, cover tightly and bake for 50 minutes at 350°F (325°F fan), until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.
Step 10: Rest the tubes for 10 minutes. Split them lengthways with a heavy knife, or whittle away the outer layer, and peel back the inner skin to free the rice. It should be sticky and chewy, with no hard white centres.
10 minStep 11: Eat warm or at room temperature on the day; wrapped in their tubes they keep overnight at cool room temperature.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 390 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 60 g
- Fat
- 14 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does luang Prabang khao lam take?
- About 90 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 60 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of coconut milk?
- Single cream, same amount (not dairy free).
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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