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Xôi Gấc (Sticky Rice Dyed Red with Gac Fruit)

Name: Xôi Gấc (Sticky Rice Dyed Red with Gac Fruit)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Ingredients: 500 g glutinous rice; 1 gac fruit; 1 tbsp vodka or soju; 1 tsp salt; 4 tbsp sugar; 5 tbsp coconut milk

Vietnamese sticky rice coloured red with the pulp of gac fruit. The soaked rice is tossed with the pulp, loosened with a little rice spirit, and salt, then steamed; once cooked it is mixed with sugar and coconut milk and steamed a little longer. It is the red rice of Tết and of weddings.

Ingredients

6servings

glutinous rice · soaked 6-8 hours500 g
gac fruit · or 200g frozen gac pulp1
vodka or soju · rice spirit in Vietnam1 tbsp
salt1 tsp
sugar4 tbsp
coconut milk · or 2 tbsp neutral oil5 tbsp

Steps

Wash the glutinous rice, soak it in cold water 6-8 hours and drain it in a sieve (soaking).
Cut the gac in half and scoop out the red pulp that wraps the seeds. The yellow flesh inside the skin is not used.
Pour the spirit over the pulp and work it with your hands to rub the pulp off the seeds. Discard the seeds.
Toss the soaked rice with the pulp and salt until every grain is evenly red, and leave it 30 minutes.
⏲ 30 min
Line a steamer with a damp cloth, spread the rice evenly, cover and steam over a strong boil 30 minutes, turning it over once halfway (steaming).
⏲ 30 min
When the rice is cooked, tip it into a large bowl and mix in the sugar and coconut milk.
Return it to the steamer for 10 minutes. The sugar melts, the rice turns glossy and the red deepens.
⏲ 10 min
Press into a bowl or mould to shape it and serve warm or cooled.

Variations

Layered with mung bean. Steamed, mashed mung beans are pressed in layers with the red rice.
Less sweet. Cut or leave out the sugar and season with salt alone.
In a mould. Pressed into flower or heart shapes for a feast table.

Tips

Use only the red pulp around the gac seeds.
The pulp goes onto the raw rice before steaming. Every grain takes the colour evenly.
Sugar and coconut milk go in after the rice is cooked.
Frozen pulp is fine. Vietnamese grocers sell it.

More detail and the reasons why (2)

The red dissolves in fat. The blue of nasi kerabu is an anthocyanin that turns purple with acid, so anything sour stays at the side of the plate. The red of gac is beta-carotene and lycopene, and as carottes râpées notes, carotene dissolves in fat rather than in water. Gac pulp is itself rich in fat, so the colour rides on that fat onto the grain. That is why the pulp goes onto the raw rice before steaming, and the coconut milk at the end adds more of the fat it dissolves in.
Same rice, opposite order. Mango sticky rice steams the rice on water alone and pours the coconut milk over afterwards. Xôi gấc puts the colouring pulp in before the steam starts and holds back only the sugar and the coconut milk.