Yuca Sweet Rice (Xôi Khoai Mì)

Yuca sweet rice or Xôi Khoai Mì is another of my childhood favorite dishes. After 1975, my mom, I, and some of my siblings were forced out of our own house in Saigon, We ended up residing on a small farm in Long Thanh. However, this period time of my life was very tough and also for my mother. Anyway, the farm stories for a city girl like me were interesting, but today I just want to introduce this recipe with special memories. Yuca is one of the root vegetables that are easy to grow, very fulfilling, and a friendly meal for poor people. I met my cousin right after the communists took over South Vietnam. My cousin was a communist soldier, and the story that he told us about the yuca plant was a big help to the North Vietnamese communist soldiers during the Vietnam War. While the Communist soldiers were traveling from the North to the South through the jungle, each of the troops had to plant the yuca after they harvested them, so every time when the new troops were deployed to the South, yuca was the food to feed them, and the yuca plantings served as a map through the Ho Chi Minh trail. The way to plant yuca is to cut the main branch of the yuca plant about 5 to 10 inches and stick them in the ground. The plant very much does not need any more care. When the plant reaches to 5 feet tall is the time to harvest them by pulling them out from the ground, and the yuca is the root of this plant. The more the plant grows, the bigger the yuca root will be. When my family was living at the farm, yuca was an everyday meal for us because we did not have enough rice to make a whole pot of rice. My mom had to mix yuca with rice to cook as it was then the normal way of life at the farm. I remember that so many times we did not have anything else to eat with the rice/yuca mixture, and the only way to make this meal tasty was to make scallion oil for the topping. However, the yuca meal that remains forever in my sweet memory with my mom when she had money and substituted the regular rice with sweet rice and that made the meal a whole lot more like a treat to us. In Vietnam, this treat is a snack food that is sold by street vendors for breakfast or anytime of the day. There are two ways to serve this recipe. One way is to serve it with scallion oil on top and with some spicy soy dipping sauce, and the other way is sweeter and prepared with fresh shredded coconut, roasted sesame seeds, and peanuts for the topping. Thinking back about those days as an adult now, I feel that each period of my life is very sweet no matter if rich or poor. Especially, as a young kid, we do not feel as bad as we become adults. For simply eliminating hunger pains, everything always tastes wonderful.

Ingredients:

Two cups sweet rice, soaked overnight
1 large or two small yuca, peeled, cut into big chunks, and soaked overnight
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup coconut milk
4 green onions, finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp sugar
1/4 cup oil

Directions:
Drain soaked rice, add 1 tsp salt into the rice, and mix well. Set aside.

Cut each of the yuca into quarters and remove the tough membrane in the center. Cut into bite-size pieces, add 1 tsp of salt, and mix well.

 

 

In a steamer over high heat, add the cut yuca into the steamer and steam for 15 minutes or until the yuca is almost cooked. Pour 1/3 cup of coconut milk into the partly cooked yuca and mix well.

 Add rice into the yuca and mix them well together.

Make a hole in the center of the steamer so the steam can distribute evenly while steaming.

Cover with lid and steam over high heat for another 15 minutes or until the yuca and rice mixture is cooked. Pour the rest of the coconut milk on the cooked rice and mix well. Cover and steam for anther 5 minutes so the coconut milk will be absorb into the yuca-rice mixture.
While the yuca rice is steaming, place a small sauce pan over high heat. Add oil, scallions, salt, and sugar. Cook for less than a minute and remove from the heat.

Place the yuca rice on a serving plate, top with scallion oil, and serve with soy dipping sauce.