Thai Sweets: Khao Niew Tu Rien

I’ve posted about sticky rice with mango, perhaps the most famous of all Thai sweets, but let me now introduce you to sticky rice with durian, khao niew tu rien. This stuff is two turn tables and a microphone. F’realz.

Soupy sweet durian coconut sauce over sticky rice. This is the classic khao niew tu rien, and while it’s completely delicious, I often find it too sweet for my taste.

Here’s how you’ll usually find it sold—in two separate baggies—one for the sauce and one for the sweet sticky rice. As you can see, I’m able to find it for 20 baht here in Chanthaburi (durian capital of Thailand) but elsewhere you’ll likely pay anywhere from 30–50 baht.

Just some of the goodies on offer at my favorite durian stall in a talat (market) in Chanthaburi. The picture on the left shows my preferred durian and sticky rice combo: no sauce, just a soft pod of durian and a little heap of sweet sticky rice.

Here’s a little bowl with my requested topping of crunchy, mildly salty fried yellow mung beans. These are often served with sticky rice and mango, not durian, but I sometimes enjoy the textural contrast and find the salty mung beans a pleasing counterpart to an often too-sweet khao niew tu rien.

Though I don’t usually go for the sauce, this was a pretty delicious combo. Fresh durian in addition to the classic khao niew tu rien.

 

Before.

After.

 

Ready for consumption. Trust me when I say this little bowl of goodness kept me satiated for a full seven hours. Which is why I actually don’t eat khao niew tu rien very often; it sits like a brick in my stomach. The most divine, delicious, obsession-inducing brick ever.