Cơm tấm: Saigon broken rice

Cơm tấm is a Saigon rice plate built on broken rice and topped with a grilled pork chop, plus extras like shredded pork skin, steamed egg meatloaf, a fried egg, scallion oil, pickles and nước chấm. At home, the essential parts are the broken rice, a well-marinated grilled pork chop and a good dipping sauce.

What broken rice is

Cơm means cooked rice, and tấm means broken rice grains. These are fragments of rice that break during milling. They were historically sold cheaply, and cooks turned them into a dish of their own. Broken rice cooks up with a slightly fluffy, almost grainy texture that soaks up sauce beautifully.

You can find bags labeled "broken rice" or "gạo tấm" at most Asian grocery stores. Regular jasmine rice works too if you can't find it.

Cơm tấm is strongly associated with Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and Southern Vietnam, where it's eaten at any time of day, including breakfast.

The classic toppings

A full plate, sometimes called cơm tấm sườn bì chả, includes:

• Sườn nướng: grilled pork chop, thin and caramelized.
• Bì: shredded pork skin tossed with toasted rice powder.
• Chả trứng: a steamed egg and pork meatloaf.
• Trứng ốp la: a fried egg, sunny side up.
• Mỡ hành: scallion oil spooned over the rice.
• Đồ chua: pickled carrot and daikon, with cucumber and tomato.
• Nước chấm: the sweet, salty, sour dipping sauce poured over everything.

The recipe below covers the pork chop, scallion oil and assembly. Bì and chả are optional extras for a weekend project.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Pork chops and marinade

• 4 thin bone-in pork chops, about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick (about 2 lb / 900 g total)
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 4 cloves garlic and 2 shallots, minced
• 1 stalk lemongrass, finely minced (optional)
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Rice, scallion oil and sides

• 2 cups (400 g) broken rice, rinsed
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced, and 1/4 cup (60 ml) neutral oil
• Đồ chua, cucumber, tomato and nước chấm to serve

Steps

• 1. If the chops are thick, pound them gently to about 1/2 inch. Thin chops cook quickly and caramelize evenly.
• 2. Mix the fish sauce, sugar, honey, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, oil and pepper. Coat the chops well and marinate at least 1 hour, or overnight in the fridge for the best flavor.
• 3. Cook the broken rice in a rice cooker or pot with slightly less water than you'd use for regular rice, about 1 3/4 cups water per cup of broken rice. It should be tender but not mushy.
• 4. For the scallion oil, put the scallions in a heatproof bowl. Heat the oil until shimmering, then pour it over. It will sizzle. Add a pinch of salt and sugar.
• 5. Grill the chops over medium-high heat, or under a broiler, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. The sugar in the marinade burns easily, so watch them and move to cooler heat if needed. They should be caramelized and reach 145°F (63°C) inside.

To finish:

• 6. Rest the chops for a few minutes.
• 7. Mound rice on each plate, spoon scallion oil over it, and add a pork chop, pickles, cucumber and tomato. Top with a fried egg if you like.
• 8. Serve with a small bowl of nước chấm for each person to pour over the plate.

Tips

• Thin chops matter: they cook through before the sugary marinade burns.
• Charcoal is classic: street stalls grill over charcoal for a smoky edge. A grill pan or broiler still works.
• Don't skip the scallion oil: it adds richness and color to the plain rice.
• Sweeter nước chấm: cơm tấm's sauce is usually on the sweet side, Southern style. See the nước chấm recipe.

Allergens

The marinade and sauce use fish sauce. Bì and chả often include pork and egg. There are no peanuts in the basic recipe. For a fish-free version, use soy sauce in the marinade.

Related dishes

If you like cơm tấm, try bún thịt nướng, which uses a similar grilled pork over noodles, and bún chả, the Hanoi take on grilled pork.

Marinate the pork overnight and keep the chops thin; that's what gives cơm tấm its sticky, smoky, sweet edges.