Featured
Yield: 4
![South West Vietnam Scorched Rice [Miền Tây Cơm Cháy]](https://i.imgur.com/bAHNzJJ.png "South West Vietnam Scorched Rice [Miền Tây Cơm Cháy]")
South West Vietnam Scorched Rice [Miền Tây Cơm Cháy]
Scorched rice is the result of rice caramelizing at the bottom of the a rice pot, when cooked on a stove. And is considered a delicacy in countries [Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas] across the world. Like all recipes, different regions offer different cooking techniques. In south west Vietnam (Miền Tây) it is called ‘Cơm Cháy.’ Day old rice is used to a create a thin layer of rice, packed in a preheated, greased wok. Then the rice in the wok is fried over low-heat to crisp the rice. Once the rice is crispy on the bottom, the cơm cháy is carefully removed from the wok to be garnishes with scallions, peanuts, dried squid, pork floss, and/or a sauce.
Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 40 MinInactive time: 12 HourTotal time: 13 Hour
Ingredients
Scorched Rice [Cơm Cháy]
Ginger Scallion Sauce [Mỡ Hành Gừng]
Other Garnishes
Equipment
Instructions
Make Day-old Rice/ Save Left-over Rice
- Rinse 1 cups of Jasmine rice under cool water until the grains run clear [rinse 4-5 times].
- Drain rice.
- In a medium-sized pot add 1.5 cups of water, along with 1 cup of the rinsed Jasmine rice.
- Bring pot to simmer, stirring occasionally.
- Turn heat down to low, cover the pot with a lid.
- Continue to cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Turn off heat. And allow pot to sit, off heat, for another 10-15 minutes prior to serving.
- Transfer cooked rice to a baking pan (or sheet pan) to cool the rice. Spread out the cooked rice so it will cool faster.
- Allow the rice to cool at ambient temperature, prior to refrigerating. [30 minutes]
- Then, consolidate rice into a Ziplock bag to store away into the refrigerator.
- Use the next day.
Scorched Rice
- In a medium non-stick fry pan, add 1 tbsp of cooking oil.
- Preheat the non-stock pan for 2-3 minutes on low-medium heat.
- Add 1 cup of day-old, cooked Jasmine rice.
- Spread and pat the rice down to cover the entire bottom surface area of the non-stick pan.
- Turn the heat down to the lowest setting. And cook for 6-7 minutes, until the rice starts brown and caramelize.
- After 6-7 minutes, the rice should be scorched and crispy.
- Carefully remove the scorched rice from the pan, and place onto a plate, scorched side up.
- Tear scorched rice into 8-10 pieces.
Make Ginger Scallion Sauce
- In a small saucepan, preheat the pan with 3 tbsp of avocado oil on medium heat for 30 seconds.
- Add the bacon lardons to the pan and render the bacon until light golden brown.
- Add minced ginger and lemongrass to the saucepan and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add ½ tsp fish sauce.
- Add ¼ tsp rice vinegar.
- Add a soft pinch of kosher salt.
- Add a soft pinch of coconut sugar.
- Add sliced scallions to the saucepan and cook for 1 minute.
- Take the saucepan off the heat.
- Mix thoroughly before serving.
Assemble
- On an entree plate, scatter 4-5 pieces of scorched rice.
- Then garnished each piece of scorched rice with a spoonful of ginger scallion sauce.
- Adjacent to each dollop of ginger scallion sauce, put a 1/4 tsp dollop of coconut cream and a 1/4 tsp of Tiger Sa Te [Vietnamese Lemongrass Paste]
- Garnish the entire plate with thin slices of thawed young coconut meat, squid (or pork) floss, and toasted peanuts.
- Eat with your hands.
Assemble
- On an entree plate, scatter 4-5 pieces of scorched rice.
- Then garnished each piece of scorched rice with a spoonful of ginger scallion sauce.
- Adjacent to each dollop of ginger scallion sauce,
Notes:
This is not Com Chay Ninh Binh.
Com Chay Ninh Binh is made from left over glutinous rice that is sun-dried in attempt to preserve the rice. Then, it is fried crispy, similar to a rice Krispy. And garnished with meat, scallions, and/or a sauce. It is a very popular street food item in both [Vietnam and Vietnam diaspora communities].
