Prepare the ingredients by thoroughly rinsing the sticky rice and peeled split mung beans, then soaking them in water for at least 4 hours or ideally overnight. Rinse them again until the water runs clear. Cut the pork belly into small pieces and marinate it with minced shallots, pepper, and salt. Additionally, rinse the spinach and allow it to dry before use.

Firstly, steam or boil the mung beans until they are soft and can be easily mashed. This is for making the filling together with pork belly. To ensure your beans are thoroughly cooked, you can perform a “squeezing test”: squeeze a bean between your fingers; if it crushes easily, your beans are well-cooked. Drain the boiling water as much as possible. Steaming or boiling overnight soaked mung beans will take you around 20-30 minutes.

Next, stir-fry the mung beans with pork until the pork is cooked, and the mung beans are finely mashed. You may need to add a little water while cooking to prevent the beans from drying out or burning. Once the mung beans are completely mashed into a paste-like consistency, form filling balls, each weighing about 60g (2.1 oz).

Blend the spinach with water until it forms a green smoothie. After blending, heat the spinach mixture to around 70-80 degrees Celsius and add glutinous flour into a mixing bowl. Gradually pour the hot spinach mixture into the glutinous rice flour. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and uniform. Divide the dough into smaller parts (around 60g - 2.1 oz each), the number equal to the number of filling balls you have prepared.

Roll each part of the dough into a thin round. Place a mung bean and pork belly filling ball in the center and wrap it gently until it is fully covered by a layer of green dough. Continue until all the fillings are covered.

Roll the balls thoroughly in soaked sticky rice to create the second layer. Ensure that the sticky rice fully covers each ball. This is the final shape of Xoi khuc/Banh khuc.

Line the steaming tray with cheesecloth. Place a layer of soaked sticky rice on to create the base, then place Xoi khuc on top. Finally, spread the remaining sticky rice on top of the balls. Steam for 30-50 minutes on medium heat until the sticky rice is cooked completely. To test, pick a small amount of sticky rice to try: if it's totally soft and chewy, you can turn off the heat.

When transferring the Xoi khuc to the serving plate, remember to gently lift both the base and the Xoi khuc balls, avoiding distortion. Garnish them with some fried shallots on top.