Mango and Sticky Rice Dream Rolls

Dream Rolls are £6.50 on our dessert list and the mango one is the original: sticky rice and mango wrapped in pastry, fried until golden, served with double cream. It takes the two halves of classic Thai mango sticky rice and puts them inside something crisp, which turns a soft, spoonable pudding into something you can pick up.

Three rolls is a portion, and this recipe makes eight, because the sticky rice is easier to cook in a slightly larger quantity and they freeze well uncooked. Total time is about an hour and twenty, most of which is the rice soaking and steaming while you do nothing.

The contrast is the point. Crisp shattering pastry, then warm coconut sticky rice, then cool sweet mango, then cold double cream poured over. Four textures and three temperatures in one bite.

Why this recipe works

• Glutinous rice, soaked then steamed. This is the only way to get proper sticky rice. Boiling it makes porridge. Soaking for at least an hour and then steaming gives you separate grains that cling together, which is exactly what you need to roll.
• The coconut sauce is added off the heat. Warm coconut milk stirred into hot rice is absorbed rather than sitting on the surface. That is what makes each grain taste of coconut.
• The rice is cooled before rolling. Hot rice steams inside the pastry and makes it soggy from the inside before it ever meets the oil.
• Spring roll pastry, not filo. Spring roll wrappers are stronger, stretchier and fry to a smooth, blistered crisp. Filo shatters into flakes and tends to leak.
• A flour and water paste seals the edge. Two teaspoons of flour mixed with water glues the roll shut far more reliably than water alone, and stops the filling escaping into the oil.
• Fried at 175°C, not hotter. The filling is already cooked, so all you are doing is crisping the pastry. Too hot and it colours before it crisps.

Ingredient notes

Glutinous rice. Also sold as sticky rice or sweet rice. It is a specific short-grain variety and no other rice will do — not basmati, not pudding rice, not sushi rice. It is cheap and available in every Asian supermarket and most large supermarkets. Despite the name it contains no gluten.

Coconut milk. Full fat, from a tin. Reduced-fat coconut milk makes a thin sauce that the rice will not absorb properly.

Mango. Ripe and fragrant. Ataulfo or Alphonso mangoes are the best for this — small, deep yellow and much less fibrous than the large green-red ones. Press gently near the stem; it should give slightly. Tinned mango slices, drained and patted dry, are a perfectly reasonable alternative out of season.

Spring roll pastry. Frozen, in packets of 20 or 25 sheets, from the freezer aisle of an Asian supermarket. Defrost in the fridge and keep the stack covered with a damp tea towel while you work, because they dry out and crack within minutes.

Palm sugar. Traditional in the coconut sauce and it gives a rounder, slightly caramel flavour. Light brown soft sugar is a close substitute.

Toasted sesame seeds. Sprinkled over at the end. Traditional with mango sticky rice, and the slight bitterness balances the sweetness well.

Substitutions and variations

Apple or pineapple. Our Apple Pie Rolls and Pineapple Pie Rolls use the same wrapper and frying method with a cooked fruit filling instead of rice, and come with warm custard rather than cream.

Banana. Swap the mango for firm banana. It goes soft and jammy in the heat and is very good, though messier.

Air fryer. Brush the rolls generously with oil and air fry at 190°C for 10 to 12 minutes, turning once. Less blistered than deep frying, but genuinely good and far less oil.

Serve with custard instead of cream. Warm custard against the cold mango works just as well and is how we serve the apple and pineapple versions.

No rolling at all. Serve the coconut sticky rice in a bowl with sliced mango and coconut sauce poured over. That is traditional mango sticky rice and it is excellent on its own.

Make them smaller. Cut the wrappers in half and make sixteen small rolls for a party. Reduce the frying time to two minutes.

Step-by-step guidance

The full method is in the recipe card below. Four stages need care.

Soaking and steaming the rice. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then soak it for at least an hour — overnight is better. Drain it, line a steamer with muslin or a clean tea towel, spread the rice in an even layer and steam for 25 to 30 minutes. Check a grain from the middle: it should be tender and translucent with no chalky centre. If it is still firm, give it another five minutes.

Dressing the rice. Warm the coconut milk with the sugar and salt until the sugar dissolves, but do not boil it. Tip the hot rice into a bowl, pour over three-quarters of the sauce and fold it through. Cover and leave for 15 minutes — it looks far too wet at first and then absorbs completely. Keep the remaining quarter of the sauce for pouring.

Rolling. Lay a wrapper as a diamond. Put two tablespoons of cooled rice in a line across the lower third, lay two thin batons of mango on top, fold the bottom corner up over the filling, fold both sides in tightly, then roll upwards, brushing the final corner with flour paste. Roll firmly — a loose roll traps air, and air pockets expand and split in hot oil.

Frying. Oil at 175°C, four rolls at a time, seam side down first. Two and a half to three minutes, turning, until golden and blistered. Drain on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar, scatter with sesame seeds and serve with cold double cream in a jug.

Professional tips

• Keep the stack of wrappers under a damp tea towel at all times. They go brittle astonishingly fast.
• Cut the mango into batons rather than cubes. Batons run the length of the roll and give you mango in every bite.
• Pat the mango dry with kitchen paper. Wet fruit creates steam inside the roll and softens the pastry.
• Roll them all before you heat the oil. Frying needs your full attention and rolling is fiddly.
• Rest the finished rolls seam side down for five minutes before frying so the paste sets.
• Serve within five minutes and pour the cream at the table, not in the kitchen.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	Solution	Prevention
Rolls burst in the oil	Rolled loosely, leaving air pockets, or overfilled	Lift out immediately and skim the oil	Roll firmly, use two tablespoons of filling, seal with flour paste
Rice is hard in the middle	Not soaked long enough or under-steamed	Return to the steamer for five minutes	Soak for at least an hour and check a grain from the centre
Rice is mushy	Boiled instead of steamed	Nothing to do — it will still taste good in a bowl	Always steam glutinous rice, never boil it
Pastry cracked while rolling	Wrappers dried out	Brush with flour paste and patch with a second wrapper	Keep the stack under a damp tea towel
Pastry pale and chewy	Oil too cool	Return to 175°C oil for a minute	Use a thermometer and fry four at a time
Soggy inside	Rice was still warm, or the mango was wet	Nothing to do once fried	Cool the rice completely and pat the mango dry

What to serve with it

Cold double cream in a jug is how we plate the mango rolls, and the temperature contrast is most of the pleasure. Coconut ice cream is the other obvious choice, and a spoonful of the reserved coconut sauce poured over is worth doing either way.

These follow anything spicy very well. After chilli oil beef ramen or Demon wings, cool mango and coconut is exactly what you want. If you would rather something chocolate-based, our chocolate fudge cake with custard is the other end of the dessert list. More in our dessert recipes.

Storage and reheating

Fried rolls are best within five minutes and acceptable within twenty. After that the pastry softens and there is no reversing it.

Cool any leftovers quickly, refrigerate within two hours and eat within 24 hours, in line with standard UK food safety guidance. Reheat in an oven or air fryer at 190°C for six to eight minutes. Do not microwave them.

The far better approach is to freeze them uncooked. Roll them, open-freeze on a lined tray for two hours, then bag them. Fry from frozen at 170°C for four to five minutes. They keep for two months and this is genuinely worth doing — it means a proper dessert on a weeknight.

Cooked sticky rice keeps covered in the fridge for up to two days, though it firms up considerably. Steam it for five minutes to soften it again. The coconut sauce keeps for three days in a sealed container.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use ordinary rice?

No. Glutinous rice is the only one that becomes sticky enough to roll. Basmati, long grain and pudding rice all behave completely differently. It is inexpensive and easy to find.

Do I need a bamboo steamer?

No. A metal steamer basket or a colander set over a pan of simmering water, lined with muslin or a clean tea towel and covered with a lid, works perfectly well.

Can I make them ahead?

Roll them up to four hours ahead, keep them covered in the fridge on a lined tray and fry to order. Or freeze them raw, which works even better.

How do I stop them going soggy?

Cool the rice completely, pat the mango dry and drain the fried rolls on a wire rack rather than kitchen paper on a plate.

Which mango should I buy?

Small, deep yellow varieties like Ataulfo or Alphonso are far better than the large green-and-red ones, which are fibrous and less sweet. Tinned mango, drained and dried, is fine out of season.

Can I bake them instead of frying?

An air fryer at 190°C for 10 to 12 minutes with a generous brushing of oil is much closer than an oven. A conventional oven tends to dry the pastry rather than crisp it.

What is glutinous rice, if it has no gluten?

The name refers to its glue-like stickiness when cooked, not to gluten. It is naturally gluten free, although you should always check the packaging of anything you buy.

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Or order three and skip the steaming

Soaking rice, steaming it, rolling eight parcels and heating a pan of oil is a proper project. Dream Rolls are £6.50 for three at 172 Biscot Road in Luton — sticky rice and mango with double cream, or apple and pineapple pie rolls with warm custard. Order for collection or delivery, or read the whole dessert list, which also has the Cozy Swirl on it.

If you make them at home, rate the recipe below and tell us how many survived to the plate.

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