Both red beans and sticky rice require soaking for at least 4 hours before cooking.

Sticky rice: Rinse the rice under running water several times until the water runs clear. This step removes excess starch and ensures a good final texture after cooking. Fill the bowl with enough water to cover the rice. You will need to soak it in water for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Sticky rice after soaking.

Red beans: Choose dried red beans and rinse them under water to remove any impurities. Like the rice, soak the red beans in fresh water. Ideally, soak them for 4 hours to 8 hours or overnight.

After soaking your ingredients for a long enough time, you can start to cook them. Rinse the glutinous rice and red bean the one last time and drain out all the water.

Parboil red beans: red beans are harder than sticky rice, thus requires to be parboiled in advance. To do so, cook them in 15 minutes in boiling water. If you would like to cook red bean sticky rice in a steamer, do one more step: parboil sticky rice. Blanch sticky rice in boiling water for 30 seconds. Stir continuously to prevent it from sticking to the pot. Immediately transfer the parboiled sticky rice into the prepared mesh strainer to drain excess water.

Mixing red beans and sticky rice: Mix them thoroughly in the cooking pot (rice cooker's inner pot or Instant Pot). Add just enough water to cover the rice and the red beans like the picture below. Then, mix in the seasonings (1 pinch of salt and 1 tbsp coconut milk) with the rice.

Cooking in a Steamer: Steam red beans and sticky rice for 20 minutes. Check if they are well cooked by biting a piece of red bean; if it's totally soft, you can turn off the heat.

Cooking in a Rice Cooker: With the rice cooker, switch on the cooking function. After 10 minutes, you can optionally stir the rice once for even cooking. Leave it until the light switches to the "warm" function, and then wait for an additional 10 minutes before opening and stirring the cooked rice.

Cooking in an Instant Pot: Using the instant pot, select the high-pressure cooking mode for either 15 minutes and allow for a natural pressure release for about 5 minutes, or opt for 18 minutes and quickly release pressure by moving the pressure release valve to the open position.

Roast white sesame on the stove over medium heat until it turns slightly golden and starts to release sesame oil. If you have fresh coconut flesh, shred it. If you're using frozen shredded coconut, defrost it naturally at room temperature or blanch it with boiling water.

Since red bean sticky rice is sticky, you can shape it into a cool form or let it settle freely on a dish. Then, drizzle coconut milk (if available) on top. Finally, garnish it with your favorite toppings: shredded coconut, roasted white sesame, granulated sugar, or crushed peanuts. Enjoy it with coconut milk and roasted white sesame.