Cơm tấm
Saigon’s broken rice, once the rice of the poor: with a chargrilled pork chop, egg, cucumber and fish sauce. It’s eaten at all hours in Ho Chi Minh City.
Ingredients
- 4 thin pork chops
- 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 1 of honey and 1 of sugar
- 3 garlic cloves and 2 shallots
- 1 lemongrass stalk
- 300 g broken rice (or jasmine rice)
- 4 eggs
- Cucumber, tomato and spring onion
- For the sauce: fish sauce, sugar, lime, garlic, chilli and water
How to make it at home
- Marinate the chops with the fish sauce, honey, sugar and the chopped garlic, shallot and lemongrass for at least 1 hour.
- Cook the rice and keep it warm.
- Chargrill them or cook them on a very hot griddle until caramelised.
- Make the sauce by mixing 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, 2 of sugar, the juice of 1 lime, garlic, chilli and 6 tablespoons of water.
- Serve the rice with the chop, a fried egg, cucumber and tomato, with the sauce poured over.
The trick: With a little spring onion oil (mỡ hành) over the rice, as in Saigon.