Bánh dày đỗ - bánh đỗ lộn - inside out mung bean n sticky rice balls or vietnam style mochi

Bánh dầy đỗ or bánh đỗ lộn was one of my favorite treats growing up. Officially known as bánh dày đỗ and also bánh đỗ lộn (inside out mung bean n sticky rice balls) in my hometown, these balls were often found on wedding menus and eaten at the end of the meal as desserts or sold in the local markets as snack. My mom would always get me these delicious savory balls whenever she went to the market, and I never had enough of them. Like with other Vietnamese treats, I had always thought they're very difficult to make until I gave them a try the other day. Turned out making them was very simple and what is best is they taste exactly the same as the ones I ate growing up. The following recipe of bánh dày đỗ is my own recipe that I created based on the recipe of chè trôi nước (glutinous balls in ginger syrup) and also my memory of what I ate. This recipe makes 20 balls.

Ingredients:

The filling:
1 cup mung bean shelled and soaked overnight
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil

The dough:
2 cups sweet/sticky/glutinous rice flour
1.5 cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

The filling:
Wash mung bean thoroughly if you buy them already shelled and they look very yellow because chances are they have been colored. Drain the mung beans and have them steamed for around 20 minutes or until tender. Process them in a food processor until they are finely ground. Add salt and 1 tbsp oil and mix well. Divide the mixture in half and put them in two separate bowls. In one bowl, add the remaining oil and mix well, shape into 1/2 in balls.

The dough:
Add the salt to the flour and whisk well. Gradually pour in the water and use a spatula to mix well until there's no clumps and the dough starts coming together. Knead the dough for a couple minutes and let it rest for 30 minutes. Add the oil and knead for a couple more minutes, then form the dough into 1.5 or 2 in balls. Flatten the balls and put the mung bean balls into the middle, pinch the edges together.
Bring a big pot of water to a boil, add the balls and cook until they float to the surface. That's when we know they're done. Take the balls out of the pot using a strainer and put them right into a bowl of ice water. Drain the balls and roll them in the remaining mung bean until well coated.

Note: if you have a sweet tooth and want a sweet filling, then add sugar to the filling and the mung bean used for coating instead of salt. Some people also like to add shredded coconut to the filling. You might want to skip the oil as well.