Xoi Ga (Coconut Sticky Rice with Chicken), Made with Monk Fruit Sweetener
Vietnamese dishesSavory Sticky RiceSouthern Vietnam6 hours soaking the glutinous rice, about 70 minutes cooking
Xoi ga with coconut milk draws people in with its golden rice and chicken thighs glazed in a glossy sauce. The hardest part is the rice: steamed carelessly it goes mushy, steamed too little and it stays hard. The rice soaks for 6 hours and is then steamed in two rounds.
The coconut milk goes on between them, along with a good fluffing, which is what makes the grains glossy, loose and cooked right through. The chicken is fried golden on all sides before it is braised, so the skin firms up and holds together through a long simmer.
This batch weighs about 2.1kg, at roughly 203 calories per 100g.
Method
Soak 500g glutinous rice in water for about 6 hours, then rinse it clean.
Mix 10g gardenia seed powder with 100ml water, stir until it dissolves, strain it and toss the liquid through the rice to color the grains.
Steam the rice for 30 minutes. Open the steamer, fluff the rice, pour over 15ml coconut milk, fluff it again, cover it and steam for another 15 minutes.
Mix the marinade for the chicken: 20g minced shallot, 15g soy sauce, 12g seasoning powder, 10g salt, 9g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 5g ground pepper, 1g five spice powder and 50ml cooking oil. Brush it over the chicken thighs and marinate them for 15 minutes.
Heat a pan and fry the thighs until they are golden on all sides.
Add the leftover marinade to the pan along with 10g tomato sauce and 500ml coconut water, and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Return the fried thighs to the pan and braise them for 20 minutes, then pour in 20ml tapioca starch mixed with water, cook for another 2 minutes and turn off the heat.
Spoon the sticky rice onto plates, set the chicken on top, ladle over the braising sauce and scatter with fried shallots.
Tips
Glutinous rice soaked too long turns sour and steams up mushy.
Two rounds of steaming with a fluffing in between cook the grains evenly and keep them from packing down in the steamer.
Thighs fried golden all over before braising keep their skin firm and hold their shape through a long simmer.
Pour the tapioca starch slurry in slowly and stir without stopping so the sauce does not go lumpy.
Strain the gardenia water well before mixing it into the rice, since any sediment leaves the grains blotchy.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.