Xôi Muối Vừng

Vietnam's humblest and most beloved breakfast: warm glutinous rice steamed to a tender sheen and showered with muối vừng, the toasted sesame and peanut salt that is the country's answer to furikake, wrapped in a banana leaf or a twist of paper and eaten in the hand on the way to work

Origin: Hanoi, Vietnam

From the journey of Sesame.

Xôi, glutinous rice steamed until tender and faintly glossy, is one of the great street breakfasts of Vietnam, sold from baskets and bicycle panniers across every city and town. Plainest and most beloved of all is xôi with muối vừng (called muối mè in the south), the toasted sesame and peanut salt that is Vietnam's everyday seed seasoning, much as furikake is in Japan. Muối vừng is nothing more than toasted sesame and peanuts pounded with a little salt and sugar, but it turns a bowl of plain rice into something deeply satisfying, nutty, savoury, and gently sweet. The word vừng is the northern term for sesame, mè the southern, and the dish is eaten the country over: wrapped in banana leaf for workers and schoolchildren, packed for journeys because it keeps and travels, and made at home as the simplest of comforting meals. It is the everyday face of a seed Vietnam grows and toasts in great quantity.

Ingredients

Sticky rice

  • 400 g glutinous (sticky) rice, soaked 4 hours or overnight
  • 0.5 tsp salt

Sesame salt (muối vừng)

  • 60 g white sesame seeds
  • 60 g roasted unsalted peanuts, skins removed
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp sugar

Method

  1. Drain the soaked rice and toss with the half-teaspoon of salt. Steam in a lined steamer over boiling water for 25 to 30 minutes until tender, translucent, and glossy, turning once halfway through.
  2. Make the muối vừng. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 to 4 minutes until golden and fragrant, and beginning to pop. Tip out and cool.
  3. Pound or pulse the cooled sesame, peanuts, salt, and sugar together to a coarse, dry, sandy crumble. Keep some texture; do not grind to a paste.
  4. Mound the hot sticky rice into bowls or onto squares of banana leaf. Shower generously with the sesame and peanut salt.
  5. Serve warm, eaten with a spoon or pressed into the leaf and eaten in the hand. Offer extra muối vừng at the table.

Notes

Muối vừng keeps for two to three weeks in an airtight jar and is endlessly useful, sprinkled over plain rice, sweet potato, corn, or fresh fruit. The sesame-only version (no peanuts) is also common and is the strict meaning of the name. Many cooks add a layer of cooked mung bean or a scatter of dried shredded coconut to the xôi for a richer breakfast (xôi vò, xôi xéo), but rice with sesame salt alone is the everyday classic. Use freshly toasted sesame for the best fragrance.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
© 2026 The Gastrographer. All original research, narratives, and illustrations. All rights reserved.