Wherever you are in Vietnam – from Saigon to Hanoi, from the Mekong Delta to the Red River, from the Central Highlands to the Northwest Mountains – you can always rely on this dish to fill you up: cơm tấm broken rice. This dish is ubiquitous in Vietnam. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner; they are always available.
Cơm tấm means ‘broken rice’. During the process of harvesting and transporting rice the grains are often damaged. In the past, these fractured grains were difficult to sell because most people preferred to eat the long, whole grain rice. With their broken rice unsold farmers traditionally used it as animal feed. However, food is rarely wasted in Vietnam and at some point, farmers, and poor families (who could afford the broken grain because it was cheaper) began to cook it for their own consumption. Nowadays, broken rice is often favoured over long grain rice for its texture (something akin to couscous), and cơm tấm is one of the best-loved dishes in Vietnam.
Popular at any time of day, but particularly in the mornings, Cơm tấm is Vietnam’s answer to the English breakfast ‘fry-up’. Steamed white broken rice is heaped onto a plate; sliced tomato and cucumber adorn the edges – a palate cleanser which also adds colour to the dish. A grilled pork chop (sườn) marinated in fish sauce, spices and lemongrass is laid on top. Next to the meat is chả – an egg, pork, mushroom and glass noodle ‘cake’ best described as ‘stuffing’. Also piled on top is bì – a mixture of shredded pork and pork skin which adds a slightly chewy texture. Finally, a fried egg, a drizzle of chopped spring onion in oil, and some pickled carrot and radish on the side. You’ll also be served a small, light, clear broth of meat-stock and spring onion to line the stomach.
Ingredients for Cơm tấm (Các thành phần nguyên liệu cho món Cơm tấm)
Hoàng Yến