Xoi bap is a sweet and savory sticky rice that we love to eat. In the street corners of Vietnam, students and workers alike, scurry to grab a hot serving of xoi bap wrapped in banana leaves before rushing off to school or work. Unwrapping the banana leaves reveal a great mixture of sticky rice, subtly sweet hominy (bap means corn), mung beans, topped with fried shallots and sugar. Both sweet and savory, we think it's not just for great for breakfast but good anytime of day. In this case, the banana leaves are used more as a serving vessel and not essential to the recipe.
Xoi Bap Recipe (Sticky Rice with Hominy and Mung Beans)
Printable Recipe
- 1.5 cup glutinous rice (soaked in water overnight and drained)
- 1 32 oz can of white hominy, drained
- 1/2 cup split and deshelled mung beans (soaked in water overnight and drained)
- 1/2 ts salt
- fried shallots
- sugar
- Steamer or Sticky Rice Bamboo steamer
- muslin fabric or cheesecloth
Bring a steamer to boil. Place muslin fabric over the steamer tray and add the glutinous rice and hominy. Season with salt and mix well. Steam until rice is soft, clear, and sticky but not too mushy, about 15 minutes or so. Remove and place in serving bowl. Hominy is precooked and ready to eat out of the can, so the purpose of cooking it with the rice is for it to be incorporate it into the sticky rice. If you add the hominy after the rice is fully cooked, it doesn't stick to the rice as well.
Now steam the mung beans in a similar manner until you can easily crush a grain of mung bean with your fingers, about 15 minutes. Remove and add to small bowl and lightly crush and fluff with a spoon. Place this on top of the rice and hominy mixture. Generously sprinkle fried shallots and sugar on top and enjoy. You can also use the sesame, peanut, sugar and salt mixture as well.
I brought this into work one time and my coworkers really enjoyed it. Xoi la dua is sweet and xoi man is savory, but xoi bap is both. It's a great snack for breakfast or anytime of day!
Sounds really interesting, wish I could try this. Must keep a mental note of this next time I visit Vietnam again.
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful blog you guys have! This sticky rice already made me drool non-stop, even I just had my breakfast :D
ReplyDeleteYum! I love the look of this. The northern style is very similar to this. One of my favourite dishes for breakfast~
ReplyDeleteI keep drooling over all your sticky rice posts. I love sticky rice but don't make it that much because I tend to over eat it, which causes a stomach ache. I think it's hard to digest? Sorry, TMI. =/
ReplyDeleteI have never tried this but it looks like a great way to eat rice!
ReplyDeleteI love sticky rice! This dish that includes mung beans looks fabulous. I would love to try this dish.
ReplyDeletepetite nyonya: you'll find xoi bap along with other vietnamese sticky rice typically sold in the mornings in the markets and street corners.
ReplyDeletegattina: thank you!
anh: xoi bap is a northern dish for sure.
jessica: one more post to go...xo vo!
mycookinghut: with sticky rice, there's lots of possibilities!
velva: if you ever make it, let us know and we'll post it!
This looks incredible! Thanks for sharing all these cool recipes.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I am giving you the "One Lovely Blog" Award. Check out my post for more details. :)
This is one of the disappearing breakfast item in Jakarta (Indonesia)... ours is similar to this without the mung beans.. and the corn kernels (hominy) for some reason still have their yellow skin. Thanks for reminding me of this dish.
ReplyDeleteJen: Thank you so much for the acknowledgement!
ReplyDeleteTuty: It's great how these dishes cross cultures and boundaries.
xoi is great - combinations of savory/sweet/salty/sticky/etc. - as a kid i would eat tons of it and not even realize it. good stuff!
ReplyDeleteTricerapops: We absoluted agree--in fact made xoi bap again today!
ReplyDeletewhere can i buy hominy from? thanks.
ReplyDeleteThis message is for anonymous - You can buy white hominy from practically any regular supermarkets. Check out the market aisles that offer Hispanic foods. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting this recipe! I was one of those students who grabbed xoi bap for breakfast (except during the gac season)nearly every morning during a semester in Vietnam 12 years ago. I have been searching ever since for a recipe in English.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to try this at home.
I also have problems to get the white hominy - do you buy it dried or in a tin? I love that dish also but never made it because of a lack of white hominy in germany :-/
ReplyDelete@anonymous: we buy the hominy in the can and drain it. hope you find it!
ReplyDelete