Com chay (burned rice)

It is a natural and simple dish but very yummy and attractive. Cơm Cháy  is made from steamed rice sliced into flat round shapes. After drying, slices of steamed rice are fried in hot oil pan until they turn yellow and crisp. Together with main ingredient, steamed rice, are beef, pig’s heart or kidney, some vegetables like mushroom, tomato, carrot  and spices such as” nước mắm”, pepper, red chili, onion, salt. Beef and pig’s heart or kidney are thinly sliced, marinated with such spices and mixed with vegetables . Then the mixture is  fried until fragrant and put into Cơm Cháy bowl.

The method of cooking Cơm Cháy is quite simple but through skilful makers it becomes one of the most famous specialty of Ninh Binh . To make good dish, we also need  experience in choosing ingredients, especially rice. Rice to make this dish is glutinous rice named “ Hương” which has pure and round grains helping the dish get extra flavor. Cơm Cháy should be supported heat by charcoal and during cooking , we keep suitable heat to create burned rice  with equal thickness around the bottom of the deep pot . It is one of the most difficult step in cooking. After that, burned rice is put out to dry in the sun several times  and preserved in fresh places to avoid mouldy state and keep its flavor.

The dish is best served with goat meat and Kim Son wine. Each bowl of Cơm Cháy is perfect combination of the crispness of yellow burned rice, greasy taste of meat and the freshness of vegetables that wake up visitors ‘taste and take them from world to world.