Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Pulut Hitam means, literally, “Black Rice”. It’s a Malaysian dessert made from slow cooking black glutinous rice with coconut cream and palm sugar until it turns a thick, spoonable consistency similar to a soupy rice porridge.  It isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I could eat it for every meal of the day.  We make it using a version of Amy Beh’s recipe, modified to accommodate the lack of fresh coconuts and dried longan in our part of the world.

• 300g black glutinous rice
• 5 litres water
• 100g castor sugar
• 100g palm sugar
• 1 pandan leaf, knotted (optional – we buy them at the markets and freeze them)
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 cup coconut cream (Kara brand, if possible)
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• extra coconut cream for serving

1.  Rinse the rice thoroughly in several changes of water, or place it in a sieve and rinse well under running water. Place the rice in a large pot (we used a 28cm La Creuset dutch oven) and add the 5 litres of water.  Allow to soak for several hours.

2. Place the pot over a medium heat and cook uncovered until the rice is soft and almost creamy.  Add the knotted pandan leaf, if using.

3. Add the two sugars and simmer for a further 15 minutes over a gentle flame.  Make sure you don’t add the sugar too early, or the rice won’t soften properly.

4. Mix together the cornflour, water, coconut cream and salt and whisk well to combine.  Add to the rice and bring to a boil, then remove from heat.   This dish will stay warm for a little while, particularly in the cast iron pot, so there’s no overwhelming rush to serve it straight away.  For each person, ladle a generous amount into a rice bowl and drizzle a spoonful of thick coconut cream over the top.  They’ll be plenty left over for seconds!