Thailand's cooling rice dish to beat the heat

Max Wittawat

Khao chae (soaked rice) is an icy, seasonal dish served with myriad accoutrements (Credit: Max Wittawat)

The sweltering heat during Buddhist New Year calls for Thailand’s cooling khao chae, a fragrant and refreshing bowl of rice delicately scented with flowers.

By the time Songkran, Thailand’s new year based on the Buddhist calendar, arrives in April, the temperatures in the Southeast Asian country are soaring. The sky is typically blue and spotless, so reprieve under the shade of a passing cloud is non-existent while the humidity is as thick as a fleece blanket. One way to cool off is in the that take place during the annual celebrations (this year from 13-15 April), which include water guns, buckets and coloured powder smeared onto the face like war paint. Another way to celebrate and cool off is to eat khao chae.

Khao chae (soaked rice) is an icy, seasonal treat that marks the beginning of summer in Thailand. The history of the dish can be traced back hundreds of years to the , an ethnic group that originated throughout Myanmar and Thailand and integrated into what was then Siamese society in the 16th Century.

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“The form of khao chae that we’re looking at right now, especially in Bangkok, has very little resemblance to the Mon khao chae,” says Leela Punyaratabandhu, a Thai scholar and the author of the 2017 cookbook , which includes a recipe for khao chae. In the 16th Century, the soaked rice porridge was served in terracotta pots to keep the dish cold because ice wasn’t readily available. The accompanying side dishes were also not nearly as intricate as they would eventually become.

It was within the kingdom of Siam’s royal family, dating back to King Rama IV’s rule in the 19th Century, that the dish blossomed into something far more complex – a metamorphosis of its humble origins. A lot of effort was made to ensure that khao chae looked visually beautiful, so side dishes included delicately carved vegetables shaped into flowers. In addition, ice, which was impossible for commoners to get at the time, distinguished kaho chae as an exclusively royal dish.

The recipe that exists now has been passed down through generations of royal cooks and aristocratic families. The dish starts by vigorously washing jasmine rice to remove all the starch. “You have to wash the rice more than regular steamed rice so it doesn’t stick together when cooked,” explains Max Wittawat, the executive chef of New York City’s . Wittawat grew up in Bangkok and was taught to make khao chae by culinary artist and teacher Jantararat Hemvej, who is known in Bangkok for having perfected khao chae.

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Since the rice also needs to withstand being soaked for long periods without falling apart, which would render the dish cloudy, washing it is especially important. After it’s steamed, the rice is submerged in ice water that’s perfumed with the scent of flowers, ranging from jasmine, ylang ylang, damask roses and bread flowers. “It’s a mark of summer when the flowers bloom,” adds Wittawat.

Calvste/Getty Images

Jasmine (pictured), ylang ylang, damask roses and bread flowers are used to perfume the water for the rice (Credit: Calvste/Getty Images)

Punyaratabandhu has childhood memories of her grandfather using a spreadsheet to track the specific times that the flowers bloomed in his garden. “All of this was very systematic,” she says. It’s important to pick the flowers at the precise time – typically the evening before preparing khao chae – in order to achieve the optimal fragrance. From there, the flowers are submerged in water for at least two hours to imbue their aroma.

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