How to Make Vietnamese Floating Rice Dumplings

Prepare Glutinous Rice Dough

The dough for bánh chay is similar to that for bánh trôi. Here are three methods to prepare the dough:

• Method 1: Soak glutinous rice for 5-6 hours, rinse, grind finely, and press out the sour liquid, leaving only the rice paste. Add some water and knead into a soft dough.
• Method 2: Use pre-packaged glutinous rice flour, mix with hot water (70-80°C), and knead into a soft dough.
• Method 3: Purchase ready-made glutinous rice dough from dry goods stores or vendors selling bánh trôi and bánh chay for 20,000-25,000 VND/kg.

Prepare Mung Bean Filling

Use hulled mung beans and soak for 3-4 hours. Rinse thoroughly and steam for about 25 minutes until the beans are soft. For extra flavor, add a pinch of salt while steaming. Avoid stirring or mashing to keep the beans intact.

After steaming, set aside 50g of mung beans in a bowl to use later for the sugar syrup.

For the remaining beans, mash them with a spatula to make the filling. Add sugar and water in the ratio of 150g mung beans: 75g sugar: 35ml water.

Cook the beans over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes dry and sticky. This process usually takes about 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat, let the mung bean filling cool, and then form it into small balls to use as filling for the dumplings.

Shape the Dumplings

Take a small portion of the soft glutinous rice dough, flatten it, and place a mung bean ball in the center. Wrap the dough around the filling and roll it into a smooth ball. Compared to bánh trôi, bánh chay is larger because it contains more filling. Repeat this process for all the dough and filling.

If you have extra mung bean filling, you can press it into a small dish and store it in the fridge to enjoy as a sweet mung bean dessert.

Boil the Dumplings

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, then gently drop the dumplings into the water.

Once the dumplings float to the surface, continue boiling for another 2 minutes. Remove the dumplings and submerge them in a bowl of cool water to prevent sticking. When cooled, arrange the dumplings in small bowls.

Prepare the Sugar Syrup

For this batch of dumplings, use 1 liter of water. Add 100g of white sugar (adjust to taste depending on your sweetness preference) and stir until dissolved. Bring the syrup to a boil.

In a separate bowl, mix 30g of tapioca starch with water, then slowly pour this into the syrup while stirring continuously to create a slightly thickened consistency.

Be careful with the amount of tapioca starch. The syrup should be slightly thick when cooked, as it will thicken a bit more as it cools. If it already looks thick while boiling, it might become too dense when cooled.

After adding the tapioca starch, cook for another minute, then turn off the heat. Stir in the reserved steamed mung beans and add a touch of vanilla for extra fragrance.

Pour the mung bean sugar syrup over the dumplings. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve while hot. The bánh chay dumplings have a soft, smooth texture, with a fragrant mung bean filling and a sweet, slightly thickened syrup lightly scented with vanilla.