The sticky rice dishes in Vietnam are very popular for the Vietnamese, but they are still a type of local food that makes plenty of diners nostalgic when tasting them.
Sticky rice is present everywhere in Vietnam. Traveling along the S-shaped strip of this country, you will find many different sticky rice dishes with various ways of processing. Its taste and serving form is also diverse, creating its own characteristics in each city.
Let’s check the well-known Vietnamese sticky rice with Vietnamdrive now!
1. Ant-egg sticky rice (Xôi Trứng Kiến)
Ant-egg sticky rice is a really unique dish. Instead of cooking it with coconut or beans, and gac, the people in Luc Ngan (Bac Giang province – North Vietnam) cook sticky rice with ant eggs.
You may feel a bit scared when seeing the small ant eggs mixed in the sticky rice, but this food can completely conquer you after tasting it.
You should come to Luc Ngan (Bac Giang) from the third to fourth lunar month so that you can enjoy ant-egg sticky rice. You can see this typical food right in Bac Giang City; however, to get its right taste, you may go to the Luc Ngan district of this province and come to the small village of the Tay people.
2. Five-color sticky rice (Xôi Ngũ Sắc)
Visiting Moc Chau, you will enjoy the fresh nature, take part in typical festivals, and can taste plenty of tasty dishes such as kitchen buffalo meat, nam pia, hill chicken, fresh salmon, stream fish, five-color sticky rice (Xôi ngũ sắc)…
Five-color sticky rice becomes the most popular dish because of its eye-catching and flavorful dish with rich nutrients.
The locals make this well-known sticky rice dish in Vietnam in 5 different colors, including white, red, blue, purple, and yellow representing the five elements water, fire, wood, metal, and earth.
This food is often made on important holidays, anniversaries, moving to new houses, weddings, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, and the full moon of the seventh lunar month. The people desire to meet lucky things in life and the family will have a successful business.
The main ingredients for this dish include fragrant upland sticky rice and white rice grains. A unique feature of this food is the leaves that create the 5 different colors of 5 types of sticky rice. Depending on each type of leaf, the locals have various concoctions to create different colors, making the sticky rice dish both attractive in appearance and taste.
3. Xeo Sticky Rice (Xôi Xéo)
Xoi Xeo seems strange to other lands, but it is popular in Hanoi. Many people tell that Xeo sticky rice to the quintessence of a new day because of its shiny, round yellow color, wrapped in a green banana leaf; and the Hanoians eat it for breakfast.
Lots of people like it because it gets 3 lovely criteria of delicious – nutritious – cheap, so it comes along with the morning of Hanoi people.
This Vietnamese sticky rice has a harmonious combination of glutinous rice, green beans, fried red shallot, and fat, creating a simple food but extremely quality breakfast. To keep sticky rice to be delicious and fragrant, the chef uses a typical type of sticky rice from the Northern Midlands Delta.
The hot sticky-rice plate serves you a sweet aroma and eye-catching colors. Tasting it, you can feel the sticky feelings, the fleshy taste of beans, and the fat of onion fat, blending together, which makes you excited and want to eat more.
4. Mixed sticky rice (Xôi Mặn)
Traveling along the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, you can encounter many shops of mixed sticky rice. Each shop has different processing methods selling various ingredients with sticky rice, but all of them bring great flavorful food.
This famous food in Vietnam includes sticky rice served with savory foods and a rich sauce. The fragrant sticky rice can be served with a little char siu, chicken, sausage, pate, and eggs, so it is called mixed sticky rice (Xôi Mặn).
Normal sticky rice is often stored in a convenient foam box. But mixed sticky rice is wrapped in fresh banana leaves, looking very unique.
Mixed sticky rice in Saigo will be tastier when served with typical sauces. Its harmonious combination creates a famous Saigon food loved by locals and tourists.
5. Sticky corn (Xôi Ngô)
Sticky corn has also become one of the famous Vietnamese sticky rice. Many students, workers, and elderly people all over the country like this one. You can find this food in most cities in Vietnam, specifically on the street in the mornings.
The main ingredient of other types of sticky rice is glutinous rice, but for Xoi Ngo, the key ingredient is fragrant sticky corn. The chef will mix sticky corn with a little sticky rice to create more sticky. A great Xoi Ngo is dry and has moderate plasticity with a mild fragrance.
When serving hot sticky corn, the shop often adds a little fried red onion and a few coconut fibers, dipping with fat peanut sesame salt. A small pack or dish of sticky corn costs around 10,000 VND.
6. Pork Sticky Rice (Xôi Thịt Hon)
If you have a chance to travel to Hue, don’t forget to enjoy pork sticky rice, a very flavorful breakfast dish.
The sticky rice is carefully cooked for white sticky rice, cooked just right, not too mushy nor too dry. Sticky rice has to be fragrant, and fleshy. This food is served with a bowl of flavorful well-cooked pork with peanuts, lemon grass, and many Vietnamese herbs. Typically, the pork part is simmered soft, easy to eat, marinated with spices, and served with hot sticky rice to create a wonderful feeling.
When serving pork sticky rice, the owner brings out two plates, including a small plate of white sticky rice and a bowl of pork with both soup and carefully cooked and fragrant meat. You take a piece of sticky rice, dip it in a bowl of soup, and cut a part of the meat together.
A portion of Xoi Thit Hon is quite affordable, only from 25,000 VND – 30,000 VND. You can find this unique local food in Hue in the morning at Pham Hong Thai or Van Cao street, Hue city. A piece of sticky rice like this, it’s full of energy.
7. Khuc sticky rice (Xôi Khúc)
Xoi Khuc is famous in Northern Vietnam, especially in Hanoi. This sticky rice has a characteristic aroma of Khuc leaves shaped like chrysanthemum leaves. This food is a breakfast dish and a snack in the evening that many people choose.
Khuc sticky rice has a beautiful green color with a round shape that looks attractive. The inside is filled with green bean pork, fatty and fleshy; all are wrapped in fine sticky rice flour.
The outside is covered with glutinous rice grains soaked with finely ground Khuc leaves to create a green color and typical taste. When eating, you will feel the aroma of the leaves, the flexibility of sticky rice, and the fat of the filling inside.
If you want to enjoy this unique sticky rice dish, one ball of sticky rice can give you a great feeling. Co Lan sticky rice shop at 97 Dinh Cong or 69 Nguyen Cong Tru, Hanoi, only 15,000 VND a piece, is the right place for you to try this sticky rice dish.
Above are the popular sticky rice dishes in Vietnam that you may taste. With the different processing methods of each region, you can find exciting feelings when tasting this typical food at many places in Vietnam.
