Cơm Tấm (Vietnamese Broken Rice)
Cơm tấm (com tam, Vietnamese broken rice) is a southern Vietnamese plate built on broken rice — gạo tấm, the grains that fracture during milling, once the cheap leftovers that rice workers and poor farmers kept for themselves — and it is most closely associated with Saigon. The usual order is a lemongrass-marinated grilled pork chop (sườn nướng) with a fried egg, cucumber and tomato, pickled carrot and daikon (đồ chua), scallion oil, and a bowl of nước chấm to spoon over everything as you eat. The small grains soak up sauce better than whole rice. Plan on about an hour of work, plus 2 hours for the marinade.
Ingredients
- 400 gbroken rice (gạo tấm) or jasmine rice
- 4 bone-in pork chops, about 1.5 cm thick
- 3 tbspfish sauce
- 2 tbspoyster sauce
- 1 tbspsugar
- 1 tbsphoney
- 2 stalks lemongrass, white and pale green parts only, very finely minced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 shallots, finely minced
- 1 tbspneutral oil, for the marinade
- 4 eggs
- 4 scallions, green parts only, thinly sliced
- 3 tbspneutral oil, for the scallion oil
- 200 gcarrots, cut into matchsticks
- 200 gdaikon, cut into matchsticks
- 1 tspsalt, plus a pinch for the scallion oil
- 120 mlrice vinegar
- 3 tbspsugar, for the pickles
- 120 mlwater, for the pickle brine
- 60 mlfish sauce, for the nước chấm
- 60 mllime juice
- 3 tbspsugar, for the nước chấm
- 120 mlwarm water
- 1 garlic clove, minced, for the nước chấm
- 1 fresh red chilli, thinly sliced, to taste
- 2 small cucumbers, sliced on the diagonal
- 2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
- 2 tbspneutral oil, for frying the chops and eggs
Method
- Pickle the vegetables. Cut the carrot and daikon into matchsticks about 5 mm thick. Toss with the salt and 1 teaspoon of the sugar and knead by hand for about 3 minutes, until a piece of daikon bends without snapping. Rinse under cold water and squeeze out the liquid. Stir the rice vinegar, the water and the rest of the sugar until dissolved, pour over the vegetables and leave for at least 30 minutes. They keep in the fridge, in their brine, for up to 2 weeks and are crispest in the first few days.
- Marinate the pork chops. Pound each chop with a meat mallet or the back of a heavy knife to about 1 to 1.5 cm thick; this tenderises the meat and gives the marinade more surface to caramelise. Score the fat cap lightly if there is one, so the chop does not curl. Combine the fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, honey, lemongrass, garlic, shallots and 1 tablespoon of oil in a bowl, add the chops and coat thoroughly. Marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight for deeper flavour.
- Cook the broken rice. Rinse the rice under cold water until it runs clear. In a rice cooker use 1 part water to 1 part rice by volume: for 400 g of rice, about 480 ml of water. On the stove, bring the rice and the same amount of water to a boil, turn the heat to the lowest setting, cover tightly and steam without lifting the lid for 12 to 15 minutes; broken rice cooks faster than whole grains. It is done when the water has been absorbed and small steam holes have formed on the surface. Rest 5 minutes covered, then fluff with a fork.
- Grill the pork chops. Heat a grill pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and brush with 1 tablespoon of the frying oil. Let the excess marinade drip off the chops, because the sugar scorches quickly. Discard the marinade left in the bowl. Cook 3 to 4 minutes per side without moving them. After 3 minutes lift a corner: the underside should be deep brown with darker edges, and if it is turning black, lower the heat. The chops, about 1 to 1.5 cm thick, are done when the thickest part, away from the bone, reads 63°C (145°F): the meat feels firm and the centre may still be faintly pink. Rest 5 minutes. A charcoal grill gives the closest result to street-stall cơm tấm.
- Make the scallion oil. Pat the sliced scallion greens completely dry, because water makes hot oil spit, and put them in a small, deep heatproof bowl with a pinch of salt. Heat the oil in a small pan until it shimmers and a slice of scallion dropped in sizzles at once; it does not need to smoke. Pour the hot oil over the scallions slowly, keeping your face and hands back — they will sizzle and release a vivid green fragrance. Stir and set aside.
- Fry the eggs, make the nước chấm and assemble. Fry the eggs in the other tablespoon of oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until the whites are set with crisp edges and the yolks are still runny; do this last so the eggs are hot. Dissolve the sugar in the warm water, then add the fish sauce, lime juice, garlic and chilli. Taste: on its own it should seem a little too sweet and too sour, because the rice and pork will dilute it. To plate, press a portion of rice into a small bowl and invert it onto a plate for a domed shape. Lean a pork chop against the rice. Arrange cucumber and tomato around the edge. Add the pickles and a fried egg. Drizzle scallion oil over the rice and meat. Serve the nước chấm in a small bowl to spoon over as you eat.
FAQ
Broken rice is rice whose grains cracked during milling; they were once sold cheap or kept by the poor, and became everyday street food in Saigon. The small, irregular pieces cook faster than whole grains and soak up sauce better. Asian supermarkets sell it in large bags, often labelled 'broken jasmine rice'. If you cannot find it, regular jasmine rice is the usual substitute for cơm tấm: you lose the slightly crumbly texture, but the plate still works. Rinse it, cook it as in step 3 with a little more water, and expect it to need a few minutes longer.
This recipe uses 60 ml fish sauce, 60 ml lime juice, 3 tablespoons sugar and 120 ml warm water, plus one minced garlic clove and sliced chilli to taste. That is equal parts fish sauce and lime, twice as much water, and enough sugar to round it off. Because it is spooned over the rice rather than used as a dip, it is more diluted than the standard nước chấm. Taste it alone on a spoon: it should seem slightly too sweet and too sour, because the rice and pork will dilute it. If it tastes perfect on the spoon, it will be flat on the plate.
Pound the chops to 1 to 1.5 cm so they cook through before the sugar scorches, and let the excess marinade drip off before they go on the heat. Use a grill pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, not full blast, and leave the chops alone for the first 3 minutes so a crust can form. Lift a corner then: deep brown is right, black means lower the heat. A hot oven also works: about 15 minutes at 160°C, then flip and give them 5 to 7 minutes at 180°C. Whichever way you cook, check for 63°C at the thickest part, away from the bone.
The complete restaurant version has five parts on top of the broken rice: sườn nướng (the grilled lemongrass pork chop), bì (shredded pork skin tossed with roasted rice powder and garlic), chả trứng (a steamed cake of minced pork, glass noodles and egg), trứng ốp la (the fried egg), and a small bowl of clear broth on the side. A sour soup such as canh chua makes a good stand-in for the broth at home. This recipe is the most accessible version, the pork chop with an egg, one of the standard orders at a street stall. The bì and chả trứng are harder to make at home and worth looking for in Vietnamese restaurants.
Keep the cooked chops, the rice and the pickles in separate airtight containers in the fridge. The chops keep for 3 days; the pickles stay in their brine and are crispest in the first few days, though they last up to 2 weeks. Reheat the chops in a skillet over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes per side until hot all the way through (74°C), because the microwave makes them rubbery. Sprinkle the rice with a little water, cover and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes, until steaming hot all the way through. Fry a fresh egg and make the scallion oil on the day, since both are at their best fresh.
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Comments (2)
Broken rice has a texture that regular rice cannot replicate. The fractured grains cook unevenly, creating a mix of soft and slightly chewy that soaks up the pork chop marinade differently than whole grains would. The lemongrass pork chop marinade needs at least 2 hours — the lemongrass flavour does not penetrate quickly. Slice the chops thin (about 1cm) so they grill fast and stay juicy.
Com Tam war mein erster Versuch mit vietnamesischer Küche und ich bin begeistert! Der Bruchreis hat so eine tolle Textur, ganz anders als normaler Reis. Die Schweinkoteletts hab ich auf dem Kontaktgrill gemacht weil ich kein Kohlegrill hab, hat auch funktioniert. Die Fischsauce riecht komisch aber im Essen schmeckt man nur Umami, vertraut dem Rezept!