Cơm tấm
Cơm tấm
Broken-rice plate — grilled pork, a chilled egg meatloaf, pickles and fish sauce. Saigon lunch architecture.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: Cơm tấm.
0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Rest
- 1 hr
- Total
- 1 hr 50 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Cơm tấm is broken rice (the grains that split in milling) with grilled pork chop, often a slice of steamed egg loaf, scallion oil, pickled carrot and a bowl of nước chấm. If you cannot find broken rice, ordinary rice is allowed and you should say so. The chop wants a marinade that can caramelise without turning to tar — sugar near the end of the grill time, not a wet syrup at the start. Score the fat so it does not buckle. Broken rice cooks a little faster and clings; rinse it and watch the water. Scallion oil is hot oil on chopped spring onion, not a cold drizzle of supermarket garlic oil. Pickles need time in vinegar; a five-minute slaw is a cousin. If you cannot grill, a ripping-hot pan still beats an oven steam. Nước chấm on the side, not poured into a swamp.
Ingredients
- Rice, broken rice if you can250 g
- Pork, thin chops400 g
- Lemongrass1 stalk
- Fish sauce44 ml
- Sugar15 ml
- Garlic3 clove
- Egg (optional)2 large
- Carrot, pickled as for bánh mì1
- Spring onion, in warm oil2
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Marinate pork in chopped lemongrass, fish sauce, sugar and garlic 1 hour. Cook rice.
15 minStep 2
Grill the pork until charred. Optional: steam beaten egg with a pinch of fish sauce into a small loaf and slice.
15 minStep 3
Plate rice, pork, pickles, scallion oil, nước chấm.
Adapt this recipe
The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 10 October.
Substitutions
Broken rice → Jasmine rice
Different texture. Still a grilled-pork plate.
Tips
- Chả trứng (egg loaf) is the pale yellow slice in the photos.
- A thin chop cooks through. A fat steak will be raw in the middle or dry at the edge.
History & culture
Saigon working lunch. A plate, not a bowl. The grill smoke is the point. Saigon plates this as work food: a mound of rice, a chop, a slice of egg loaf if you are lucky, a puddle of sauce you control. It is eaten with a fork and spoon more often than with ceremony. Homes recreate the grill smoke because that is the flavour people miss abroad. Broken rice is texture, not a mistake in the mill you should 'upgrade'. Using long-grain jasmine is a translation you should admit, then season the plate harder to compensate.
Broken rice was the cheap leftover of milling. The plated version is 20th-century Saigon that became a signature. Milling leftovers became a specialty because cities will make a cuisine out of what is cheap and plentiful. Grilled pork on rice is older than the branded shopfront. The plated Saigon version — pickles, scallion oil, a small bowl of dip — is twentieth-century urban food that stuck. Egg loaf and extra bits are shop competition. The through-line is a charcoal chop and rice that was once the broken stuff, now often broken on purpose.
Regional variation
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips — not a chatbot.
How long does Cơm tấm take?
1 hr 50 min all in — 25 min prep, 25 min cook, 1 hr rest. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 2 plates. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Medium.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Fish, Eggs. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Nut-free.
What does it cost to cook?
Weeknight budget — about $8–16 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Frying pan, Saucepan.
How much salt do I put in?
This recipe does not list salt as its own ingredient. Saltiness comes from Fish sauce — 3 tbsp. Taste at the end rather than adding a number we did not write.
How much fish sauce?
3 tbsp of Fish sauce.
How much sugar?
1 tbsp of Sugar.
What can I use instead?
Broken rice → Jasmine rice. Different texture. Still a grilled-pork plate.
Any tips from this recipe?
Chả trứng (egg loaf) is the pale yellow slice in the photos. A thin chop cooks through. A fat steak will be raw in the middle or dry at the edge.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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