Ingredients:

1 cup (200g) Chinese black rice (‘forbidden rice’), soaked for 4-8 hours**
2 cups water
pinch of salt
1 400ml can coconut milk
coconut sugar to taste
fresh mango slices for serving

Rinse and drain the soaked rice thoroughly and place in a large pot with the water and salt. Bring to the boil over high heat then reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove the lid and add the coconut milk, reserving about a third of the can for serving. Turn up the heat to medium and simmer a further 10 minutes or so, until the rice is cooked through but still ‘al dente’ and retaining its shape.

Sweeten to taste with coconut sugar and serve, warm, topped with mango slices and an extra splash of the reserved coconut milk. Leftovers can be kept in the fridge up to three days and reheated or eaten cold.

Notes:

*The only other rice variety that can be used in this recipe is Thai Black Rice (also known as black sticky rice or black glutinous rice), which is quite similar but results in a stickier pudding. The grains are a little longer than the forbidden black rice, and are of varying colour tones, not totally black.

**Soaking the raw rice before cooking it shortens the cooking time dramatically and helps the grains cook more evenly so they’re easier to digest. It’s worth nothing though that black rice may be sold ‘pre-soaked’ or ‘pre-steamed’ and dried