Preparation

50 minutes
Difficulty

Easy

Red beet sticky rice with mung bean filling is a sticky rice dish with a striking red color from the beet. This is also a steamed dish loved for its delicious flavor and the very simple preparation method. The Cooking section today will guide you on how to make this sticky rice dish. Let’s practice right away!

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1 Soak the sticky rice and mung beans

2 Prepare and blend the beetroot

3 Steam glutinous rice and mung beans

4 Mixing sticky rice color

5 Grinding and sautéing mung beans

6 Shaping the sticky rice

7 Final Product

Ingredients for Red Beet Sticky Rice with Mung Bean Filling Serves 2

Glutinous rice 500 gr Mung beans 150 gr Red beet 1 bulb Cooking oil A little Salt A little

How to choose fresh ingredients

How to choose good beets

Choose firm beets with smooth skin that are not wrinkled or soft, and still have leaves.
Round-bottomed beets are sweeter than flat-bottomed beets which are less sweet.
Utilize the beet leaves as well because beet greens are also very nutritious.

See details: How to choose good beets

How to choose good sticky rice

Good sticky rice is the type of rice that has uniform grains, medium size—not too big or too small, plump, glossy, not broken, not dusty, and has a yellow color.
You should choose opaque white sticky rice grains, which will have a fragrant smell and rich in nutrients when cooked, avoiding rice that has been milled too finely, losing the bran layer surrounding the grains that contains many nutrients.
Aside from observing the outside of the rice grains, you can identify good sticky rice by tasting it. Good rice grains will have a sweet taste and a light, distinctive fragrance.

How to choose good mung beans

You should choose plump, evenly sized mung beans, without any that are shriveled or infested.
Choose those with a bright yellow color, the halves of the mung beans should be firm and have a light, distinctive fragrance.
You should choose shelled mung beans to save soaking time compared to those with the shell.

Ingredients for beetroot sticky rice with mung bean filling

Tools needed

Steamer, sieve, blender, pan, induction cooker…

How to make Sticky Rice with Beetroot and Mung Bean Filling

1

Soak the sticky rice and mung beans

After purchasing, rinse the sticky rice with water to remove dirt, then soak it in water overnight to soften. After that, drain the sticky rice, rinse it with clean water a few times, and let it dry.

Soak the peeled mung beans in water overnight to let them expand and soften. Next, drain the mung beans, rinse them with clean water a few times, and let them dry.
2

Prepare and blend the beetroot

Wash the beetroot with water, peel it, and cut it into small pieces.

Next, blend the cut beetroot with 50ml of water using a blender. Turn on the blender at high speed and blend the beetroot until smooth and thick, then turn off the blender.

Pour the blended mixture through a sieve to extract the juice.
3
Steam glutinous rice and mung beans

Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to 500g of drained glutinous rice and mix well, do the same with 150g of mung beans.

Pour water into the steamer, when the water boils, place the mung beans in the bottom tier and steam the glutinous rice in the top tier for 30 – 40 minutes.

After steaming for 35 minutes, check if the sticky rice is cooked by gently squeezing it with your hand. If the grains are soft and chewy, the sticky rice is done; if not soft, continue steaming.

Do the same with the mung beans.
Tip:
- You can steam the sticky rice using a rice cooker if a steamer is not available.
- Depending on the type of glutinous rice, the steaming time may vary, so you should check the softness and chewiness of the sticky rice while steaming to adjust the time accordingly.
4

Mixing sticky rice color

When the sticky rice is soft and cooked, pour the beetroot juice evenly over the surface of the sticky rice, using chopsticks to mix thoroughly so the color absorbs into the rice, then continue steaming for 3 – 5 minutes.

Tip: When starting to steam, you should not add the beetroot color immediately as the high temperature will cause the color to fade. If you use food coloring, you can mix it in right from the moment you put the sticky rice in to steam.
5

Grinding and sautéing mung beans

Add 150g of steamed mung beans and a little water into the blender, then blend until smooth.

Heat a pan with a little cooking oil, when the oil is hot, add the blended mung beans and sauté until the mung beans form a lump and do not stick to the surface of the pan, then turn off the heat.

Tip: To prevent the mung beans from burning, you should keep the heat moderate and stir constantly so that the mung beans evenly contact the heat, which will prevent burning.
6

Shaping the sticky rice

Brush a thin layer of cooking oil on the mold, put a layer of sticky rice at the bottom, use a ladle to press to shape the sticky rice, then add 1 layer of mung beans and 1 more layer of sticky rice on top.

Tip: To avoid the cake sticking to the mold and being difficult to remove, before shaping, you should apply a little cooking oil to the mold.

Use a plate to cover the mouth of the mold, then turn the cake mold upside down and remove the mold.
7

Final Product

A striking red color along with the fragrant smell and chewy texture of sticky rice, the nutty flavor of mung beans will give you a delicious feeling from the very first bite. This beetroot sticky rice with mung bean filling is also very tasty when served with Vietnamese pork sausage.