This red, sticky, slightly splotchy rice is one of my family's favourites. Usually this gac or cochinchin gourd flavoured sticky rice is made especially for celebrations or for a memorial ceremony (for an relative who died), however, it can also be eaten at any given time. My siblings and parents really like eating this sticky rice, and I feel like it's a change to the normal, plain sticky rice. However, unlike plain sticky rice , not everything tastes great with the cochinchin gourd flavour, it can be enjoyed with different types of meat or eaten alone if you are a vegetarian. You can eat the sticky rice with chicken, pigeon, pork or beef; the meat will enhance the cochinchin gourd's flavour and the contrasting textures make you think you are eating something totally different. Personally, I don't really like to eat this sticky rice because if it is not eaten right after it is cooked or when it is hot, it tends to be very dry and hard. Otherwise I think it is a great alternative for any meal and not just for special occasions.
My family, like most Vietnamese families, have rice as the main part for almost all out meals, but instead of eating cereal or bread as an alternate, we like to eat pho and sticky rice in the mornings. Rice is an important part life in Viet Nam, rice fields are a big part of every farmers life, not just for sale but for their own families to eat as well. So I think that is why rice is a reoccurring ingredient in Vietnamese cuisine. Although my family eats plain sticky rice the most, there is a variety of different types of sticky rice. My mum likes to eat mung bean sticky rice, where the bean is cooked with the rice, it makes the rice less sweet and makes the sticky rice taste more like plain rice. One of my brothers likes to eat another kind of mung bean sticky rice (called xoi xeo), where the bean is mushed and added with oil or chicken fat to cooked with the rice, giving it a yellow look; more mung beans are then cooked together creating a powdery solid and is shaved onto the top of the sticky rice and can be enjoyed with fried onions. Whilst this sounds good, my other brother likes sticky rick cooked with corn (xoi ngo), however the corn is not mushed with the rice but rather left as kernels, this is also eaten with the same bean shavings. And then there's my sister, she has a totally different taste, she likes coconut sticky rice (xoi dua), this dish is sweeter and can be enjoyed as a dessert or as the actual meal. It looks slightly purple with coconut shavings mixed into the sticky rice, the great thing about coconut sticky rice is that it is an enjoyable treat during any season and any weather at all!
Recommendation for a place to eat Sticky Rice: 35b Nguyễn Hữu Huân, Lý Thái Tổ, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Việt Nam
Sticky rice is actually sold in many places but every morning there are usually ladies who walk around selling different types of sticky rice in their bikes. This is great because sticky rice is actually eaten a lot for breakfast and I feel like they are also a contributing part to Ha Noi culture. This particular place actually sells a specific type of sticky rice and so while your exploring the Old Quarter, take a stop and check it out.
Sticky rice is actually sold in many places but every morning there are usually ladies who walk around selling different types of sticky rice in their bikes. This is great because sticky rice is actually eaten a lot for breakfast and I feel like they are also a contributing part to Ha Noi culture. This particular place actually sells a specific type of sticky rice and so while your exploring the Old Quarter, take a stop and check it out.
Sticky rice is actually sold in many places but every morning there are usually ladies who walk around selling different types of sticky rice in their bikes. This is great because sticky rice is actually eaten a lot for breakfast by many people in Ha Noi. I also think that these women and their bicycles selling sticky rice are a huge contributing factor to the rich culture of Ha Noi.