Embracing four generations of Isan sticky rice

Thai chef Bussakorn Siromani grew up with sticky rice and even today she thinks a meal is not complete without it.

Embracing generations of sticky rice from the Thailand region of Isan. Source: Boo's Kitchen

Sticky rice is not only a feature of many Thai dishes, it's more or less infused with the culture. Indeed, it was the first dish Thai chef Bussakorn Siromani (Boo) learned to cook from her mother, who sold traditional meals from the family home. Now, Boo is embracing her heritage and bringing families together through food at her Isan-inspired restaurant, Boo's Kitchen, in Brisbane, Queensland.

Life in Isan, a region in north-eastern Thailand where Boo was born and is close to both Laos and Cambodia, revolved around the rice-growing season. 

"[The] majority of the people from Isan either grew up in a sticky rice farming family or have worked in the rice fields," Boo explains. "I come from generations of sticky-rice farmers, with my family being privileged to have their own farms. Hence, our food came straight from the farm to the mat at home where we all sat around and picked at various salads and meats with the rice."

Boo helping her family at her father's rice paddies. Source: Boo's Kitchen

Because it's a staple for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Boo and her siblings learnt how to cook sticky rice early.

"My dad taught me to grow and harvest the rice," Boo says. "My mum taught me to make the sticky rice the traditional way that her parents and generations before her cooked it."

Her mum taught her that sticky rice must be soaked in cold water overnight to get the right texture. "It is then steamed in an Isan bamboo steamer, tossed a few times and then taken out," she explains. "To this day, I follow her method, even if it is time-consuming, for the restaurant and at home."

All the materials and ingredients to make Isan sticky rice. Source: Boo's Kitchen

Boo learned a lot about Isan and other Thai flavours, as well as Laos cuisine, by helping her mum with her food business.

Isan in particular is known for its salads or 'tams', grilled meat and sticky rice.

Boo's husband, Gerard Siromani, says, "Isan used to be a poor region where many families could not afford fridges. So, Isan food developed with many salads, using lime and chilli to preserve it, and fresh herbs from the farms. Rather than deep-frying, meats were grilled, and of course, sticky rice can be re-steamed very well."

The two fundamental things when we got together were sticky rice and som tam [papaya salad].

Boo loves sharing the tastes of her home at her restaurant Boo's Kitchen, which opened in 2018, twenty years after she migrated to Australia in 1998. Each dish carries a story from Boo's past. The menu includes family favourites and items that her mother used to sell.  Dishes are made to share, which is a large part of Isan culture. 

"We would be joined by our extended family or friends who were always welcome to share our meals," Boo says about family meals in Isan. "The two fundamental things when we got together were sticky rice and som tam [papaya salad]. They go in the centre and then everything else is whatever people have brought."

This typical Isan som tum platter served with sticky rice. Source: Boo's Kitchen

Som tam served with brined crab and fermented anchovies is Boo's Kitchen bestseller and would not be complete without a side of sticky rice.  

"At home, my family in Brisbane and I have sticky rice and som tam almost daily," she laughs. 

Boo's daughters, Natasha and Isabella, now work alongside their mother at the restaurant and are the newest branches of the sticky rice family tree. 

 

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Isan sticky rice

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 4 cups raw sticky rice 
• 6 cups water

Method

1. Place 4 cups of raw sticky rice in a bowl and cover with approximately 6 cups of cold water. Soak the rice overnight. 
2. Strain the rice. The grains should be soft and a little swollen. Place the rice into a bamboo steamer and cover with a lid.
3. Place the steamer over a pot of boiling water to steam for approximately 20 minutes. When the sticky rice is translucent it is cooked.
4. Take the bamboo steamer off the pot. Fluff the sticky rice with a wooden spoon before transferring it into a bamboo sticky rice container. 

Note

• Sticky rice is traditionally steamed in woven bamboo. Isan bamboo steamers are in the shape of a cone, closed at one end and open at the other. The steamer's weave allows hot steam to rise, which helps to cook the rice evenly.