Xôi

Xôi (Vietnamese pronunciation: [soj˧˧]) is a traditional dish of Vietnamese people.
The development process of the customs using xôi so far is still in the debate. However, although the civilization of India and China is often thought to be the foundation of modern East and Southeast Asian culture, sticky rice and customs revolves around it are almost not appearing in two civilizations. Especially, Southeast Asia has shown the rich development of sticky rice growing model. Besides, each country or ethnic group has unique ways of processing, which is directly related to sticky rice.
According to the survey of Vietnamese scholars, the customs related to sticky rice have followed the Tai tribes from Yunnan to the Northwestern region of Vietnam from the beginning of the Christian era. In fact, so far, this region is still the largest sticky rice growing in Vietnam. Part of the reason is because this rice variety is only suitable for high terrain with low water. Therefore, it was known as "the sticky rice zone" (vùng thâm canh lúa nếp).
Because of those, sticky rice has become a specific crop in Southeast Asian culture. Over the centuries, xôi - its finished product - has made very rich and diverse developments, which cannot be found in other regions.
Since ancient times, there has not been yet any research that can explain the word "xôi" in Vietnamese language or at least can find a form of inter-text. However, according to the survey of researcher Trần Quang Đức, this term appears in the brain as a manifestation of a dish made from "gạo nếp" (sticky rice) and is almost the only ingredient. Therefore, in Vietnamese dictionaries, this word is classified as single ones, meaning it can be only a noun, not any other form.
In some reviews of Vietnamese cuisine since the 1990s, this dish has been translated as "sticky rice". However, this translation is thought to be not yet close to the reality of things.
Besides, xôi has a more ancient call and is now only used in rural areas, which is "cơm nếp" (Kinh) or "ꪹꪄ꫁ꪱ / khăw-nueng" (Tai), meaning "the meal of sticky rice".
According to curriculum The Foundation of Vietnamese Culture (Cơ sở văn hóa Việt Nam, 1995) by Trần Ngọc Thêm, Vietnamese ancestors probably have a long process of using sticky rice (gạo nếp) as a basic daily food. However, it was inherently difficult to grow and often produces unstable yields, so over time, it has been replaced by wet rice (gạo tẻ). Wet rice has gradually become the main food daily because of the advantages such as: Good drought tolerance, a year can harvest at least two seasons (spring and autumn), moderate nutritional content... In addition, the price of sticky rice is always double the price of wet rice in the agricultural market. This type of rice is often called as "gem rice" (gạo ngọc) or even "heavenly rice" (gạo giời) in Vietnamese folklore. This mainly comes from its round, white and glossy shape, as well as the nutritional content of high value.
Compared to wet rice, sticky rice has many nutritional advantages, but it proved more difficult to process. First of all, sticky rice must be soaked in pure water (nước sạch) for a night to make its grains bloom bigger, thus ensuring softness after cooking. Before cooking (đồ xôi), sticky rice must be continued to soak with salt water (nước muối). In contrast, the lack of salt will cause the grains of sticky rice to be "thin" (gầy), unable to touch the nerves of the taste buds. Therefore, modern Vietnamese folklore has ana extra sentencesaying: "If the bread is indispensable in yeast, how can sticky rice lack salt?". However, after the process of preliminary processing, until sticky rice becomes xôi, its taste remains unchanged. After all, salt acts as solvents, not spices as many people think.
In cuisine science, xôi always consist of four flavors that are nuttiness (ngùi), flavourless (nhạt), salinity (mặn) and sweetness (ngọt). Accordingly, the nuttiness has a significant popularity, while sweetness is very rare. Moreover, the color of xôi is white in pure, what is often called ivory color (màu ngà), but it becomes more colorful because of mix with other foods (mostly cereals).
From the habit of modern Vietnamese people, xôi was classified as one of the extra dishes (bữa phụ) to nourish nutrition after hard labor. Besides, it is an indispensable dish in important events of life: Festival, weddings, memorials of the deceased, especially Lunar New Year...
In the most classic and universal form, xôi is usually wrapped in leaves of arrowroot or sometimes banana and lotus. This method is to preserve the dish for two (summer) to three (winter) days, which is very convenient to make the long journeys. Besides, some persons who are adventurous with their taste buds will fry xôi in a cast iron pan, although this method is not very popular. Moreover, the combination with the heat of metal is generally considered bad for the quality of sticky rice.
The ethnic minority communities in the Northwest mountains of Vietnam have a different way of preparing xôi, which is called "cơm lam" (means "forest meal"). It is cooked in neohouzeaua or sometimes bamboo tubes rather than pots. During the cooking process, the essential oil of the wood penetrates the sticky rice to supplement fragrance and automatically solidifies into a thin biofilm to hold the rice grains. This practice is not originally due to lack, but for convenience in going into the forest for a long time.
Since the early 2010s, due to the influence of Thai tourism culture, there has been a trend among Vietnamese youth to eat xôi with durian, jackfruit and mango, something that did not exist in previous decades. Its most common use is usually in combination with coconut milk. However, this dish (xôi xiêm, "siam xôi") is only suitable for summer.
According to the Vietnamese philosophy of yin yang, sticky rice is inherently hot food, while wet rice is a mild one, thus xôi is recommended not to use too much for people who can normal condition. The symptoms of eating xôi fully are as: Abdominal pain, belching, difficulty excreted, sometimes itchy. Some groups of people are recommended not to use xôi as a meal: Obese, stomach pain, stinger, serious wound, high fever, high blood pressure, pregnancy, persons tend to gain weight fast, persons usually have flatulence and indigestion. Furthermore, in Vietnamese cuisine, xôi is usually combined with popular cereals to increase its flavor. Xôi is even said to be extremely helpful when served with fish, because it overcome the cold when absorbing dishes originating from the waters. That is why, it is also one of the anti-cold foods very effectively. However, xôi should not be combined with chicken. By the experience of Vietnamese folklore, these two dishes when combined will make the number of worms grow very quickly in the human body. In addition, some other ingredients are also recommended not to be combined with xôi, such as: Chili, pepper, mustard, garlic, chicken eggs, beef... and especially dog meat. Xôi is also very limited to make cakes, because its stickiness can completely cause throat blockage in case of pureeing. However, due to sticky rice's highest nutritional content of cereals, physicians often recommend the use of xôi for sick people or women who has just given birth. It is thought to stimulate the strength of mother's condition and especially the milk gland, which is very beneficial for babies.
Despite being pushed down to the secondary row in everyday dishes, xôi has great mental significance of all Vietnamese peoples. It is a priority food for the deities and ancestors in every big occasion. Besides, it is also the main ingredient to make bánh chưng, bánh tét and bánh giầy, which are very important in the Tết Nguyên Đán.
Before the synthetic glue was created, xôi was used by Vietnamese people as a specialized and cheap glue. However, it can only be useful to paper and some thin items made from bamboo. Examples: Hand fans, paper lanterns, paintings...
Due to the diversity and richness of ways to prepare and display xôi, there are yet currently no official statistics on the number of dishes made from it. However, according to the books of authors Thạch Lam, Vũ Bằng and Toan Ánh, xôi can be classified into several groups according to form.
(Note: The following reviews contain many superficial)
Savory xôi are called xôi mặn in Vietnamese. They include the following varieties:
Sweet xôi are called xôi ngọt in Vietnamese. They include the following varieties:
(Note: The following statistics are only of relative significance)