| 4 c. glutinous rice | ~4 c. milk |
| ~1 c. sugar |
Make the rice as usual, cooking with milk instead of water. After it is done, leave it sitting warm for a good while, an hour or two, to soften the rice more.
Turn the rice into a large bowl; if the milk on the bottom has scorched, peel it off. Mash the rice with a potato masher for a while (this is hard work). As you mash, gradually add the sugar, a 1/4-cup at a time. Keep adding sugar until the mixture is sweet to taste, and keep beating until the rice is extremely sticky and gooey, with a rather taffy-like texture. Add a bit more milk, if needed to make things work.
This can be eaten either hot or cold. If served hot, make a hole in the center, and fill with melted butter. (Haven't tried this yet, but it's what the original calls for.)
The original source calls for beating the rice with a spoon until "not a trace of the grain remains". I found that to be beyond me; even after 20 minutes of hard work, the grain was still pretty distinct. We made it with Chinese rice, on the theory that that would best achieve the taffy-like texture called for in the primary source; other rices might be worth trying. The original actually calls for cooking the rice with water, and gives the milk as a recommended variation.