Vietnamese Broken Rice (com Tam) Recipe
  1. Because you need to marinade pork chops for at least 4 hours, this step should be the first step.

  2. Making aromatic juice from garlic and lemongrass: Peel garlic and cut lemongrass into shorter pieces. Blend them finely with 4 tbsp water, then filter the mixture to obtain the aromatic juice.

  3. In another bowl, mix well all other marinades: fish sauce, oil, oyster sauce, soy sauce, condensed milk, honey, sugar, five-spice powder, ground pepper, baking soda, and annatto oil. If you lack one of these marinades such as condensed milk, five-spice powder, or annatto oil, don't worry, you can skip it, or increase other marinades (e.g substitute honey for condensed milk). Although the taste will be affected slightly, it would be much more convenient.

  4. Pound the piece of meat to make it thinner, easier to absorb seasoning, and not tough after grilling. Using a pounder would be the best; otherwise, use a pestle or rolling pin to pound it.

  5. Marinade pork chops with the above aromatic juice and marinades mixture. Let it sit for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

  6. Making pickled carrots and daikon: refer here.

  7. Making spring onion oil. Heat up the oil on medium heat; once it boils, add the chopped spring onion in and turn off the heat. Let it cool down so the aroma from spring onion infuses to the oil.

  8. Slice cucumber and tomatoes thinly.

  9. Cooking broken rice is slightly different from cooking other types of rice. Please refer to the detailed guidance on how to cook broken rice for Com Tam here. You'll need to soak the broken rice for 30 minutes, mix it with water at a 1:1 ratio, and cook it as usual for 20-25 minutes in a rice cooker.

  10. For the dressing sauce, mix fish sauce, sugar, water, and lime/lemon juice together and cook over medium heat until boiling. Then, turn off the heat and let it cool down before adding chopped garlic and chili.

  11. Grilling indoors can be challenging due to smoking, so I usually use a skillet covered with aluminum foil as a substitute for a barbecue grill. The effect is nearly similar, but it will save much of your time during the process and cleaning.

  12. Grill the slices of pork shoulder over medium heat. Once one side is cooked, flip them. Grill until the pork chops achieve a charred appearance. If the aluminum foil is blackened, replace it with a new one.

  13. Use a bowl to shape your cooked broken rice into a dome. Flip the bowl onto a prepared plate to unmold the rice. Drizzle some spring onion oil on top and assemble all the accompaniments around the rice. Before eating, drizzle the dressing sauce on top to enjoy.

Course🍽️Main Course

Diets🥩Carnivore...

Category🍚Rice Dish

Cuisine🇻🇳Vietnamese

Occasions📆Everyday👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Family Meal

Season🔁Year-round

DifficultyMedium ⏰ 45m

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