Banh Khuc -- Mung bean, mochi, and sticky rice

Banh khuc are among my favorite snacks. The center is a savory mix of mung bean, pork, fish sauce, and deep fried shallot followed by a layer of white rice and sticky rice flour dough and then an outer layer of sticky rice.

According to my uncle Chu Nghia,, there is a La Khuc -- a type of leaf -- from which these were originally made. Nowadays, most people use pureed spinach to get the green color of the dough. I decided to go with simplicity and leave the dough white.

My recipe comes from my aunt Bac Lan.


First the mung beans need to be soaked in water overnight

After soaking, the mung beans should be rinsed and then cooked. I cooked it in a rice cooker on the "brown rice" setting, but basically, you just cook them till they're tender to whip into a fluffy mound. Then add salt, deep fried shallot, fish sauce, and sauteed pork until tasty. Divide this into about 40 balls about 1 inch around.


Making the dough was easier than I thought it'd be:

Then wrap pieces of the dough around the mung bean balls.

Mom says round sticky rice is better than the elongated sticky rice. I simply steamed the rice with pinches of kosher salt.

Then cover with steamed sticky rice, let cool, then enjoy!