Recipe: Savory Sticky Rice Dumplin - Bánh ít

By Helen Le Published: March 26, 2016

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    Ingredients
    Instructions
    • Wash 1/2 cup of peeled split mung beans and then soak in water for about 1h. Drain well and cook in a rice cooker with 1/2 cup of water. Mash the cooked mung beans into a paste together with 1 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. You can use a food processor.
    • Season the pork with some minced garlic and shallots, some pepper, chicken stock and 1-2 tsp fish sauce.
    • Add some oil in a pan and fry some garlic until fragrant. Then toss in the shrimps and quickly stir-fry for 30 secs on high heat to bring out the orange color of the shrimps. Then toss in the pork and stir-fry on medium heat until it's no longer pink. Add 1 tsp sugar and stir for 2 mins, then add 1 tbsp fish sauce and simmer on low heat while stirring. Turn off the heat, add some pepper and let cool.
    • In a large mixing bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour with 1/2 tsp salt. Make a hole in the centre, slowly pouring warm water (at aobut 50 dgree C). You're gonna need about 370-400ml water depeding on the quality of the flour.
    • Use a spatula of a sppon to mix it up, then you can knead with your hands until it comes together to form a dough. Cover and let it rest for about 30 mins to reduce the strong flour smell.
    • Grease the plate and the palms of your hands with some vegetable oil. Pinch a piece of dough and flatten it out into a thin disk. Then add some fillings into the centre, some shrimps and pork and about 1/2 tsp of mashed mung beans. Then pinch the edges together and form into a nice ball. Then palce them on a greased plate to avoid sticking. Reapeat until you finish the dough and the fillings.
    • If you want to wrap it in a banana leaf, grease the piece of the banana leaf with some vegetable oil, place the dough into it, folding the sides and the two ends.
    • Arrange them into a steamer and steam for aobut 15-20 mins. Occasionally wipe up the water on the lid of the steamer.
    • You can also boil the "naked" version, just bring the water to a boil, drop in the dumplings and then cook until they float to the surface.
    • To serve, put some scallion oil on top, some pickled shredded carrots and daikon and dip into the light dipping fish sauce.