Sticky Rice or Xoi is a staple ingredient in Vietnamese cuisine. What can I say, we are carb-lovers with our abundant variety of rice, noodles and doughs. The glutinous, slightly chewy texture of the sticky rice is pure comfort food. And since sticky rice is mild in flavor, it goes well with just about everything! This recipe pairs sticky rice with hominy and then tops it off with mung bean and fried onions to create a unique dish with delicious tastes and textures. What exactly is hominy you ask? Hominy is made from kernels of corn which are soaked in a lye or lime solution. The soaking causes the kernels to puff up into little balls. Hominy is not sweet like fresh corn and but actually rather mild. In terms of texture, it’s dense and mealy like a bean. It is very similar in texture to chick peas or garbanzo beans. As hominy is typically canned in the same soaking solution, I always rinse the hominy several times with cold tap water before using it in any recipe.
I love having this dish for breakfast and will often make a batch at the beginning of the week. Then I prepare individual portions of the rice and mung bean and store in the refrigerator. In the morning, I just pop it into the the microwave for a minute, sprinkle a bit of the fried onions and have a hot breakfast to enjoy!
Watch the video for instructions.
Sticky Rice and Hominy / Xoi Bap
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups glutinous/sweet rice
2 (15.5) oz cans white hominy
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups water
Toppings
2 cups grated mung bean
1/2 cup fried onions
sugar (optional)
Directions
Wash the sticky rice with water several times until the water is clear. Soak the rice in water for 2 hours.
Pour contents of hominy into a large colander and rinse with water 3 times. Put the hominy into a large glass bowl. Add 1/2 cup of water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on High for 5 minutes.
Drain rice in a colander and shake off the excess water. Add cooked hominy to rice and combine together. Again, shake the colander removing as much of the excess water as possible. Be sure to spend a few minutes on this process. If you don’t drain off the excess water, the rice will be too wet once it’s cooked.
Add the rice and hominy into the rice cooker. Add salt and combine. Add the water. Smooth out the rice and hominy using a spoon or spatula. Snap rice cooker lid close and set to Cook. When the rice cooker switches over to the Keep Warm setting (approximately 20 minutes), open the lid and stir everything together. Close the lid and let rice and hominy cook for another 20-25 minutes.
To serve, spoon a generous amount of the hot sticky rice and hominy into a large bowl or plate. Sprinkle the grated mung bean and fried onions on top. (It’s up to your individual preference how much to add. I typically add 1/3 cup mung bean and 1-2 tablespoons of fried onions per 1 cup of sticky rice and hominy.)
Yields: 4-6 servings
I just tried a sweeter version of this dish with purple sticky rice, coconut milk sauce,ground peanuts with sesame seeds,sugar and salt. Have you ever heard of this type? Do you have a recipe? Thank you!
Hi Trang.
When you cook “xoi” nowaday, do you always cook it with a rice cooker? (easier method of course). Do you cook the old way- steam the rice? Which method do you prefer? If so , you have a trick to keep the xoi “deo” using the steam method? When I steam the rice, the final product xoi always come out rather “kho” (even when I add some hot water to the xoi at the end.). Also , if you are cooking xoi with the rice cooker, do you always as to soak the rice a couple hours before cooking.? Thanks
Hi Amy,
I use the rice cooker when making smaller portions of xoi (2-4 servings) and don’t have a lot of time. When I make larger servings for Tet, parties, etc., I use a steamer. The traditional steamer method definitely makes a better xoi because the rice isn’t so moist as when made in the rice cooker. I think the trick to steaming xoi so it’s deo (chewy) is to add water throughout the steam processing. I use a spray bottle and spritz the rice with water multiple times while steaming. So we’re adding the moisture gradually as the rice is expanding. When cooking with a rice cooker, I try to soak the rice for at least 1-2 hours. The soaking helps to enhance the chewy texture. Hope that helps!
Thanks Trang . Will definitely try the spray method. However, do you spray the rice with hot or room temperature water? Amy
Hi Amy,
I just use room temperature water but I think hot water is even better! 🙂
Hi Trang,
Love your recipe and is simple too especially steaming sweet rice in rice cooker so much easier. Need to know if the 21/2 cup water is for the 21/2 cup sweet rice that you use to cook in the rice cooker.
Thank you.
Hi Angeline,
Yes the 2 1/2 cups water is for cooking the sweet rice. General rule of thumb is to use equal amounts of rice and water. Good Luck and feel free to share your results!
Never mind Trang. I think 2 1/2 cups of stick rice is right because otherwise the amount of water is too much.
Thanks & Regards!
Hi Trang,
Yes, you have it right. Good Luck with the recipe and let me know how it turns out for you. 🙂
Thanks Trang! I haven’t tried it yet! Too busy to buy hominy but last weekend I tried Xoi Xeo and it turned out perfect. We all loved it & my aunt thought I was a genius in our family 😉
Thank You & Happy Cooking Trang 😉
Lol! Take all the credit, you did all of the hard work and I am sure your family appreciated your efforts. If you are a xoi lover, you will love Xoi Bap as well.
Dear Trang,
Thank you for sharing. I love listen to your instructions 😉
Anyway, just want to clarify as the recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of sweet rice but the video posted 2-1/2 cups (=1 cup).
Sorry for the confusion.
Thanks!
Hi Trang,
My apologies on the measurement typo in the video. It’s 2 and 1/2 cups for the sticky rice as in this recipe.
No problem. Thank You! You are so kind.
Regards & Happy Cooking 😉