What is xôi vò?
Lunar New Year in Vietnam is a big celebration, and everyone looks forward to it. Much like Christmas here in the U.S. Like all big celebrations, there are certain traditional foods that our families make every year. Most people make xôi, which is a dish comprised of glutinous (sticky, sweet) rice and peeled mung beans. In this dish, the sticky rice grains “stick” together. However, in my family we make xôi vò instead. Xôi vò is also made of sticky rice and peeled mung beans, but with a minor difference. The difference is the glutinous rice grains in xôi vò do not “stick” together because they are being coated by the peeled mung beans. My family loves mung beans (peeled or unpeeled) so we add extra to our sticky rice to make the dish into xôi vò.
To me xôi vò has a chewy texture from the sticky rice and a buttery texture from the steamed peeled mung beans.
How to make xôi vò?
All you need to make xôi vò are glutinous (sticky) rice, peeled mung beans, and a steamer pot. The sticky rice and mung beans are soaked separately overnight, rinsed then combined and left alone to steam for an hour…and that’s it!! As easy as it is to make, I’m not sure why we didn’t make it more often when I was growing up. Perhaps it’s because it’s readily available every day from street vendors, except for around Lunar New Year when everything shuts down?
How to serve xôi vò?
This dish is best served warm. To me xôi vò is a dish that you can make savory or sweet. However, growing up, I always associate eating xôi vò (sticky rice and mung bean) with chè đường (peeled mung bean dessert). Just add the desired amount of xôi vò into the chè đường (peeled mung bean dessert), and you’ve got yourself a sweet and slightly salty dessert. The sweet, of course, comes from the peeled mung bean dessert. The salty taste comes from the xôi vò.
Of course, you can also eat it plain too. Generally people eat it plain for breakfast, but I like to have it as a snack as well. It’s similar to Jasmine rice in that it goes with pretty much everything.
Or you can serve it with a side of chả (Vietnamese ham)…
The ways to serve this dish is endless, so be creative and explore.
Storing sticky rice and mung beans
My family stores xôi vò in microwaveable, single served bowls, and covers the bowls with saran (plastic) wrap in the fridge. After all, when you’re busy entertaining guests for the Lunar New Year, who has time to portion out food? This way makes it easy to pop the bowls in the microwave when guests arrive.
Xôi Vò (Vietnamese Sticky Rice with Mung Beans).
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry, uncooked sweet rice soaked in water overnight.
- 1.5 cup peeled, uncooked mung beans soaked in water overnight.
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
Instructions for preparing the sweet rice and mung beans:
- Place the dry mung beans in a bowl and add water to it. Gently rub the mung beans then discard the water. You'll notice that the water becomes yellow. This is normal. Just keep rinsing the mung beans until the water becomes clear again.
- After the water is clear, add enough water to fully submerge the mung beans and allow them to soak overnight.
- In a separate bowl containing the uncooked sweet rice. Add water to the rice and gently rub the rice then discard the water. This washes away anything that was on the outside of the rice. Repeat rinsing the rice 2 more times. Then add enough water to fully submerge the rice and let them soak overnight.
Instructions for cooking the sweet rice and mung beans:
- Fill a pot half way with water. Put a steamer basket on top. Make sure the water does not come in contact with the steamer basket. Cover the pot and let it come to a boil.
- Meanwhile, discard the water that was used to soak the sweet rice.
- Put the soaked rice in a colander to remove any excess water from the rice.
- Transfer the rice from the colander into a bowl and set it aside.
- Pour the soaked mung beans in to a colander to discard the water and to remove any excess water.
- Combine the soaked sweet rice and remaining mung beans in a large bowl. Mix well.
- Add salt to the rice and mung bean mixture and mix well to combine.
- Add this rice, mung bean mixture to the steamer basket.
- Close the lid and leave it alone to steam for approximately one hour. After an hour, open the lid and check to see if the mung beans are soft. If they are, turn off the heat.
- Add the vegetable oil to the cooked sweet rice and mung bean mixture. Mix well to combine.
- And you've got yourself some delicious xôi vò.
Wanting to serve rice for dinner tonight? Why not mix things up and try this recipe? If you’re like me and love sticky rice, click here for more recipes. Do you have a favorite New Year dish that you grew up with? Leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you like this post, feel free to share it on Facebook by using the button below.
