I’m introducing to you a traditional, popular and gorgeous looking breakfast item back home today: xoi khuc or sticky rice over spinach rice dumplings.
“Xoi” means sticky rice in Vietnamese and “khuc” is a type of vegetable used to give the dumplings a beautiful greenish color. These steamed dumplings are rich, flavorful with mung-bean filling, then roll over sticky rice, and steam to perfection.
In this recipe, we used spinach as a replacement to “khuc vegetable” to achieve that greenish color in the dumplings. I also substitute pork shoulder instead of the traditional pork belly for a healthier option.
This recipe is a little time consuming than most recipes I’ve shared but I can assure you it’ll totally worth your time. Cute, savory and delicious, these rice balls with dumplings is definitely a must have item to be added to the list of things to bring to picnics, or camping trips this summer. You can also freeze them so when cravings hit, just pop them in the microwave and you’ve already gotten breakfast taken care of.
Mind-blowing delicious, nutritious and flavorful. All in one bite!
This recipe is adapted from the talented Trang of RunawayRice. Thank you chi Trang for a wonderful recipe!
- 2½ cup of sticky rice (sweet rice)
- 8 oz frozen chopped spinach
- 2 cups of water
- 1 bag glutinous rice flour (16 oz)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup peeled mung bean
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cup water
- 0.5 lb pork shoulder (thinly sliced)
- 2 tablespoon shallot
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon oil
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Grab two large bowls. Fill mung bean in one bowl and sweet rice on the other.
- Wash the mung bean and rice. Rinse thoroughly until water runs clear. Soak for 4 hours or better over night.
- Rinse the rice and drain well. Sprinkle with salt and set aside for later use.
- Rinse the mung bean one more time and drain well. Distribute mung bean evenly in the rice cooker. Add salt and water. Cook until soft. When the rice cooker buttons pops up, unplug the rice cooker right away. Use a spatula and mash the mung bean until you get a smooth, soft mixture. Set aside for later use.
- Season the pork shoulder with fish sauce, garlic powder, and black pepper. Mix well and set aside for 15 minutes
- In a medium pan over medium heat, add oil, shallot and fry until golden. Add in the pork shoulder and stir fry until the meat is no longer pink. Transfer the meat and combine with the mung bean mixture.
- Divide the filling into 16 to 18 portions. Shape them into small balls.
- Prepare the green mixture by placing frozen spinach in a large bowl with water. Microwave the mixture on high for 5 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Extract the green juice through a sieve. You should get about 1½ cups. Save half of the spinach for the flour mixture.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour, salt. Make a well in the center and slowly pour in the green juice, then half of spinach. Mix well and knead with your hands until it comes together into a dough. If the mixture seems sticky and a little dry, add another tablespoon of warm water. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest on the counter for 2 hours.
- Grease your hands with vegetable oil, pinch a piece of dough and flatten out using the palm of your hands. Place the mung bean filling in the center and pinch the edges together, removing any excess dough. Roll into balls.
- Line your steamer with parchment paper and spray generous amount of nonstick cooking oil.
- Spread a thin layer of sticky rice on the steamer base, follow by the rice balls, then another layer of sticky rice.
- Steam the dumplings for 15 minutes, occasionally open the lid to remove excess water on top of the lid.
- After 15 minutes, flip the dumplings over to steam the other side. Spray generous amount of water over the dumplings. Steam for an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove the dumplings and serve over fried shallots.
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