Glutinous Rice

Glutinous Rice

Glutinous rice, known as gạo nếp in Vietnamese, is typically made into sweet desserts such as "che" (when wet, i.e. che dau trang), "bánh" (when dry and formed into a cake, whether using whole glutinous rice grains or the rice flour, and "xôi" (when dry but not formed into a cake, i.e. xôi gấc). While not all che and bánh contain glutinous rice, all xôi do. It is also eaten during full moon and common during Tết (the Vietnamese New Year) and weddings due to the fact that it is used in sweets. It is often colored with food dye, as can be seen in the picture of xôi gấc, a primarily ceremonial dish made by cooking gac in glutinous rice, resulting in a bright orange dessert thanks to the natural color of the gac. Vietnamese also prepare glutinous rice cakes (bánh chưng). Glutinous rice can also be fermented, which results in alcoholic beverages known as rượu nếp and cơm rượu.