Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Xoi Vo Recipe Mung Bean Sticky Rice

xoi vo

Xoi vo is a subtly sweet glutinous rice that is made of with crumbled/crush (vo means to crush/crumble) mung beans. The consistency is more loose and dryer compared to other sticky rice such as xoi man, pandan sweet rice (xoi la dua), and xoi bap. This type of sweet rice is versatile because it can be eaten as breakfast, a snack, or a side dish to a dinner. As I grew up, I always wondered why my aunt, bac chin (nine), would use fabric to make xoi vo. I thought the yellow color of xoi vo came from the yellow muslin fabric she used, but now I realize the beautiful yellow color comes from steaming the rice and the yellow mung beans together.

Xoi Vo Mung Bean Sticky Rice
Printable Recipe
  • 2 cups of glutinous rice
  • 1 cup of yellow split mung beans
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 2 tablespoons of coconut milk
xoi vo

Soak the glutinous rice and yellow mung beans separately for at least 8 hours, but preferably overnight. Drain the glutinous rice and mung beans separately and let them dry naturally.

xoi vo

Steam the mung beans for about 20-30 minutes. When cooled, mash the mung beans into thick paste with small clumps.

Mix the rice, salt, and mung beans and place the mixture in a steamer with a cheesecloth or muslin. Steam for about 15-20 minutes or until rice is done when soft and loses it's opaqueness. When done, add the coconut milk and mix gently being careful not to mush the rice into clumps.

Enjoy xoi vo alone, with the sweet and salty sesame/peanut mixture, or with your favorite meat dish like ga roti :)

18 comments:

  1. Mmm. I love all forms of rice. I love your sesame/peanut river too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dang, next time I'm in LA, forget the restaurants....I'm going to your house. There's so much stuff you post here that I don't see in the NY restaurants, though I've kind of given up and stopped going to Vietnamese restaurants here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love mung beans! Especially when they are made into vermicelli :) Lovely presentation of the rice.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I also love mung beans. We koreans eat fried mung bean pancakes. Have never had them with rice strangely enough but this looks good!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks like I've found fellow XOI FIENDS! I ate it everyday while living in Vietnam. You'll dig this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49593052@N00/sets/72157622590469165/

    ReplyDelete
  6. My fav snack. Haven't done it in a while... Thanks for posting, it inspired me to make it again :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks great! You have really exposed me to so many types of Vietnamese food that I've never heard of! I love sticky rice. :)

    See you at the Foodbuzz conference?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ninette: There are more rice variations we'd love to explore and post more about. Thanks for stopping by

    Jessica@Foodmayhem: Come on over! There are so many Vietnamese restaurants around here but we love to cook and try different things too. Unfortunately NY doesn't have much Vietnamese food

    The Little Teochew: Never tried it with vermicilli noodles but sounds delish!

    Yutjangsah: Korean pancakes with mung beans sound so good right now:) We also put mung beans in Vietnamese crepes as well too.

    Gastronomer: thanks for sharing. we're becoming xoi fiends too!

    Jackie @ PhamFatale: Thanks for stopping by. We got inspired to make more batches of xoi and steam goodies and just bought a nice steamer

    Jen @ TinyUrban kitchen: That's great! We love opening folks up to many types of Vietnamese food. Thanks for sharing so many diverse asian recipes and sweet deserts!

    ReplyDelete
  9. It's true there aren't too many good authentic Vietnamese restaurants in New York. I find your posts intriguing, giving me dish after dish to aspire.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Fresh Local and Best: Although there aren't too many good authentic Vietnamese restaurants, we miss New York! Thanks for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am bookmarking this ......shall try sometime and will let you know.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Aw, I don't have a steamer. :( I've always wanted to try making this at home. Is there another way?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Interesting dish and I would love to try it! I usually eat mung beans porridge or drink mung beans juice :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh.. I love the bamboo steamer. May I know where you got it? It's a traditional steamer in Indonesia too.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I've never tried this kind of rice.. looks delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow. Xoi vo` is my favorite. You can make everything so yummy.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nidhi: Let us know how xoi vo goes for you!

    Anna: A bamboo steamer is pretty cheap! On amazon, it's around 13 bucks...or your rice cooker may have one..let us know if you make it!

    Selba: mung beans are so versatile!

    tuty: we got it at a local asian grocery, but you can buy it on amazon too!

    mycookinghut: thanks!

    Zoe: Thanks for your support...we try our best!

    ReplyDelete
  18. this dish brings back so many childhood memories. i could eat bowlful after bowlful!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving us a comment. We love to hear from you. We'll try to respond as quick as possible. Please click on the link "subscribe by email" below to receive comment replies by email or just check back in a day or so. Thank you for reading our blog!