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Often referred to as sticky or sweet rice (gap nep), these grains are soaked for several hours, sometimes overnight, before cooking.  Glutinous rice comes in both long and short grain varieties.  The long grain is used for both savoury and sweet dishes, such as the popular porridge-style dishes or short grain is favoured for dumplings, puddings and festive sweets.  In contrast to long grain rice, the highly polished, glutinous rice grain is an opaque white colour due to the starch content when raw and turns translucent when cooked.  Although the grains retain a degree of firmness, they do tend to stick to one another, thus lending themsleves ideally to being handled in clumps and moulded into balls to dip into a sauce, or to be flavoured with a dollop of sweet bean paste, to be used as fillings for cakes wrapped in banana leaves.  In the street of Vietnam and Cambodia, glutinous rice is often eaten as a filling snack, sweetened with a little coconut milk and sugar sprinkled over the top.

Gao, or long grain, rice is the daily staple of all South-east Asian cooking. Often delicately scented, such as fragrant jasmine rice, the grains should be dry, thin, firm and translucent when raw. Once steamed the tender grains should still retain some bite and turn white and fluff up easily with a fork. Whether polished or unpolished, aromatic or nutty, long grain rice is used throughout Vietnam and Cambodia as the absorbent bed for many fish and meat curries and stews. The Vietnamese prefer the long grain jasmine variety (gao thom), cooked using the absorption method.

In Vietnam and Cambodia, there are three main groups of rice: long grain, short grain, and sticky “glutinous” rice.  The most widely grown and the most frquently consumed is the long grain; in the cooler northern regions of Vietnam and Cambodia, the plumper short grain sometimes takes preference.  Sticky rice is often used in porridge-style dishes and wrapped in banana leaves to make savoury and sweet “cake.

Rich in carbohydrate and containing vitamins A and B, rice is one of the healthiest staple foods. It is used to make vinegar and wine, and it is indispensable when ground into flour to make French-style baguettes and crepes, the ubiquitous, paper-thin wrappers used for spring rolls, and dried and fresh noodles, then may be stir-fried; sticky rice is steamed until it resembles porridege.

In Vietnam, rice is regarded as the “staff of life”. It plays an impartant role as a staple food as well as in the economy and the culture. There are even rigorous rice-cooking competitions based on the tradition of preparing rice for soldiers going into battle. With lush carpeted valleys and hillside terraces of fertile, well-irrigated rice crops, this long, narrow country manages to rank third in the rice-export game, behind the United States and Thailand, producing a number of varieties that differ in aroma, flavor, and gluten content. Vietnam’s principal rice bowls can be found in the land around the Red River in the north and the Mekong Delta in the sosuth.

In Cambodia, rice is equaly importan. Grown primarily in the emerald-green rice paddies of the Battambang region in the west, it is the principal ingredient in everyday meals as well as in snacks and festive foods. A typical Cambodian breakfast consists of a bowl of bobor, rice porridge, which is sometimes accompanied by a little fish or pork. Both the regular and glutinous varieties are popular with a stronger emphasis on the red and brown grains, which still retain their bran husks. Although the texture and nutritional qualities of the red and brown grains are much greater, most Vietnamese dishes call for the polished varieties to form the basis of a meal that will then be balanced by vegetables, herbs and spices for their texture, colour and flavour.

Within their groups, there are many types of rice, all of which the Vietnamese and Cambodians can differentiate by the aroma or taste of the raw grain. When bying, the quality and texture of the grain will be discussed at length as each cook requires a particular rice for the meal that day. Several long grain and glutinous varieties are available in Asian stores and supermarkets.

The culinary cultures of Vietnam and Cambodia have both been influenced by the cuisines of India, Thailand, China and France so there are inevitably many similarities.  Fish and rice are the staples of both countries and there is a strong emphasis on coconut milk combined with spices and herbs, such as ginger, lemon grass, garlic, chillies and coriander.

2 packages (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water (110 degree to 115 degree F)
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup uncooked old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup soy flour*
1/4 cup wheat gluten*
1/4 cup sesame seeds*
2 teaspoons sugar substitude
1 teaspoon salt

*Soy flour, wheat gluten and sesame seeds are available in the natural foods sections of many supermarkets and at health food stores.

1. Stir yeast into water in small bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add oil.
2. Combine all-purpose flour, oats, soy flour, gluten, sesame seeds, sugar substitute and salt in food processor filled with plastic dough blade. Using on/off pulsing action, process until blended.
3. With processor running, slowly pour yeast mixture through feed tube; then using on/off pulsing action, process until dough comes together and forms a mass. Unlock processor lid, but do not remove; let dough rise 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
4. Spray 8×4x2-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Using on/off pulsing action, process briefly until dough comes together and forms a ball. Turn dough onto floured work surface. Shape into disc. (Dough will be slightly sticky.) Roll dough on floured surface into 12×8-inch rectangle. Roll up from short side; fold under ends and place in prepared pan. Cover with towel; let rise in warm place 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degree F. Bake 35 minutes or until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack. Cut into 1/4-inch slices with serrated knife.