Easy and Fast Pulut Hitam Porridge (Bubur Ketan Hitam)
This post may contain affiliate links.Pulut Hitam porridge is a yummy Southeast Asian dessert made with black glutinous rice, drizzled with coconut milk. It is sweet, sticky, and totally comforting with its nutty flavor. It is super easy to make with 5-30-7 method which will make the rice chewy!
This dessert is super popular all over Asia, especially in places like Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. The best part? It’s easy to make at home!
What makes it so good is the chewy texture and nutty flavor of the black sticky rice. Plus, it smells amazing while cooking!
Black sticky rice (or black glutinous rice) is a type of rice used in Southeast Asian desserts. It’s sticky, black, and has a nutty, chewy texture when cooked.
Black glutinous rice is also called black sticky rice or ketan hitam in Indonesian. It’s sticky and chewy when cooked, which is why it’s perfect for desserts. In Asia, it’s often served warm with coconut milk as a sweet treat.
Black rice, on the other hand, isn’t as sticky. It has no sugar, just starch, so it’s often recommended for diabetics as a healthier alternative to white rice.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
Recipe Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Black Glutinous Rice – Remember to use black glutinous rice or black sticky rice, not black rice. Soak the black sticky rice overnight or 6 hours ahead. The minimum soaking time is 2 hours.
Coconut Sugar or Palm Sugar – Coconut sugar or palm sugar is fine. Coconut sugar and palm sugar leaves a nutty flavor to the porridge. Both mixes well with black sticky rice flavor. Combine with regular white sugar to balance the sweetness.
Be sure to check out the full recipe and ingredient list below
How to Make Bubur Ketan Hitam
STEP 1. Wash the black glutinous rice and soak it with water for at least 2 hours or overnight (Image 1). Drain the water. Boil 1000 ml water in a pot with medium heat. When the water boils, transfer the rice into the pot (Images 2, 3). Put in pandan leaves. Let it boil (Image 4).
STEP 2. When it boils, set the timer for 5 minutes (Image 5). Cook with the lid off. After 5 minutes, put on the lid, turn off the stove and set the timer for 30 minutes (Image 6).
STEP 3. After 30 minutes, the water is half absorbed by the rice (Image 7). Turn on the stove again, let it boil. Once it boils, set the timer to 7 minutes (Image 8). This time do not leave it unattended. You need to stir it once in a while.
STEP 4. After 7 minutes the water should be absorbed by the rice. Add in sugar and salt into the cooked pulut hitam (Image 9). Stir well until the sugar melts and the water runs a bit dry. Turn off the stove. In another pot, cook the coconut sauce, salt, and pandan leaves until it simmers (Images 10, 11, 12).
Pro Tips
- Always remember to soak the sticky rice before cooking it. It takes at least 2 hours to soak it so it gets tender and chewy easily.
- Never put in the sugar before you finish cooking. If you put in sugar early, the rice will never get tender and chewy, no matter how long you cook it.
- Follow the 5-30-7 method to save gas and cooking time and the rice will get soft and chewy.
How to Serve
Pulut hitam porridge is traditionally served warm, even though you can also serve it cold. It is a popular comforting dessert in Asia. There are many ways to serve pulut hitam. You can add pearl sago to make it more beautiful.
Serve pulut hitam in a bowl, pour in the salty coconut sauce on top. You can add Candil Ubi or Corn Pudding to make it more colorful. Add fried snacks like Banana Fritters or Indonesian Kroket Kentang.
FAQs about Pulut Hitam
Pulut Hitam Porridge also known as Black Sticky Rice Porridge or Bubur Ketan Hitam is a simple traditional dessert from Asia. Hence, it is very popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. It is a sweet dessert made of black sticky rice, palm sugar, and coconut milk.
Pulut hitam is naturally gluten-free since the main ingredient is black glutinous rice. However, you need to check if there are other ingredients that contain gluten in it. Some people may use cornstarch to thicken it.
Absolutely! You can substitute coconut sugar or palm sugar and regular sugar with any sweetener you prefer. Please understand the the flavor may be different from the traditional Pulut Hitam Porridge.
Storage
Keep the leftover (black sticky rice and coconut sauce) in a separate container. They should be good for up to 3 days in the chiller. You can reheat using a pan or microwave.
More Asian Dessert Recipes
- If you like sticky rice texture, here is the white sticky rice with custard top. A combination of sweet and salty in one bite, Kuih Seri Muka.
- In Asia you can find a lot of snacks made of sticky rice. Ketan Serundeng is a great combination of salty and spicy sticky rice with coconut shreds.
- You may also like the very popular dessert from Thailand called Mango Sticky Rice, it’s mango and sticky rice drizzled with coconut sauce.
More Dessert Recipes
Pulut Hitam Porridge
Ingredients
Pulut Hitam Porridge
- 250 gr black glutinous rice
- 2 pcs pandan leaves
- 1000 ml water
- 70 gr sugar
- 70 gr coconut sugar
Coconut milk
- 400 ml coconut milk
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 pcs pandan leaves
Instructions
- Wash the black glutinous rice and soak it with water for at least 2 hours or overnight. Drain the water. Boil 1000 ml water in a pot with medium heat. When the water boils, transfer the rice into the pot. Put in pandan leaves. Let it boil.
- When it boils, set the timer for 5 minutes. Cook with the lid off. After 5 minutes, put on the lid, turn off the stove and set the timer for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, the water is half absorbed by the rice. Turn on the stove again, let it boil. Once it boils, set the timer to 7 minutes. This time do not leave it unattended. You need to stir it once in a while.
- After 7 minutes the water should be absorbed by the rice. Add in sugar and salt into the cooked pulut hitam. Stir well until the sugar melts and the water runs a bit dry. Turn off the stove. In another pot, cook the coconut sauce, salt, and pandan leaves until it simmers.
Video
Notes
- Always remember to soak the sticky rice before cooking it. It takes at least 2 hours to soak it so it gets tender and chewy easily.
- Never put in the sugar before you finish cooking. If you put in sugar early, the rice will never get tender and chewy, no matter how long you cook it.
- Follow the 5-30-7 method to save gas and cooking time and the rice will get soft and chewy.
This is the easiest pulut hitam porridge recipe. Using this method makes cooking it faster. The result is chewy, soft sticky rice.