Feb 2008

Cơm Tấm Bì Chả Sườn Trứng Ốp La

A special dish for a special day. Happy February 29th everyone!

I’m not sure what your plans are, but I celebrated over a hefty plate of cơm tấm bì chả sườn trứng for lunch today. A bed of warm broken rice (cơm tấm) accented with a slab of grilled pork chop marinated in sugar and fish sauce (sườn), a slice of pork loaf topped with egg yolks (chả), and a mixture of pork skin and thinly shredded pork (). Pork prepared three different ways in one dish truly is magical! The mountain of meat and rice is topped with a runny, deep-fried egg (trứng Ốp La), a scallion and oil mixture, and a lovely fish sauce vinaigrette (nuoc mam).

Hungry yet?

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18 thoughts on “Cơm Tấm Bì Chả Sườn Trứng Ốp La

  1. Yum! That is one of my favorite things to get from the stand at my university… they call it Rainbow Rice.
    I always wondered what was in that deliciousness of speckly egg rectangle!

  2. egg is tru*’ng , not Truo*?ng .

    Cha? (the speckly egg) is made from minced pork, egg, black mushroom (Mo^.c nhi~), rice vermicelli, sometime they throw in crap meat too. Steam it then bake it, voila, you have that wonderful cha?.

  3. tanglethis – raninbow rice? That’s a wild name. And read the comment below about the pork loaf 😉

    Duy – I need Vietnamese spell check. Or literate readers like yourself!

  4. Extremely hungry now! And I’ve just got a pack of biscuits by me to sate my appetite.

    Could you describe this scallion and oil mixture? Is it similar to the ginger and scallion oil (minus the ginger) that’s put on Chinese poached chicken? Sounds like something nice to pep up anything on rice.

  5. that looks so good. but only thing minus for me would be the bi since i am not a big fan of it. extra on the cha.

  6. Su Lin – Not sure if biscuits can match up to pork prepared THREE ways!

    Here’s a simple recipe for scallion oil or “hanh la phi” I found on the ‘net. The ingredients are simple, 2 bunches of scallions and 1/4 C. of vegetable or peanut oil. Heat the oil in a small saucepan until hot but not smoking, about 300 degrees F. Remove the pan from the heat and add the sliced scallions. Let the mixture steep at room temperature until completely cooled. This oil mixture will keep stored in a tightly covered jar at room temperature for 1 week. Yield: 1/4 cup From Geminis MASSIVE MealMaster collection at http://www.synapse.com/~gemini

    The mixture is very subtle alone, but greatly enhanced with a splash of “nuoc cham” (fish sauce vinaigrette)

    Sari – You gotta admit that fat is tasty 😉 And glad you’re a fan! Will check out your site shortly.

    Angel Van – not a fan of bi? A shame! Extra cha AND suon is a must then to keep the porky proportions on point.

  7. your blog really reminds me of the wonderful Asian street foods… Miss it so much. Dutch culinaire is blaaaah.
    And yes.. the fatty part is the best part of all!

  8. It’s past my bed time, my stomach’s rumbling and then I read this blog entry. Cơm tấm bì sườn chả trứng – my favourite! Argh! Now I’m really hungry! Wonder what’s in the fridge…

  9. being a single guy; working only 15 minutes from Little Saigon. Most of the time, my dinner would be “that” dish. I usually joking to others about “that” Cơm Tấm Bì Chả Sườn Trứng Opla as “all the cholesterol, all sugar, all salt, all MSG for your eating-pleasure-dish”. It is soooo good; it is bad for you. Somehow, your contemplation and the pix of “that dish” make me have a second thought about where to have my dinner tonight. Geee, talk about power of the pen (in your case, power of the keyboard) 🙂

  10. Sari – you are now officially linked on gas•tron•o•my. Keep up the fine work.

    John – I sure hope you got a plate of cơm tấm bì sườn chả trứng straightaway the next day. If not, I’ll have to eat another plate for you.

    Bern – your assessment of the dish – “all the cholesterol, all sugar, all salt, all MSG for your eating-pleasure-dish” – is perfect! I’ve never thought about the dish that way, but it explains why it’s so damn satisfying! Oh, and share the link to your site?

    Jon – thanks so much! Best compliment ever :-).

  11. Being here in VN for 7 years now i have to say the best “com tam suong bi cha” is NOT in VN, but back in our Little Saigon in Orange County, CA. Even in the best raved joint in Saigon “Com Tam Moc” is no comparison to ours in the US. here the portion is so small, the suon quality is so so, the “cha” has no taste and not enough “rainbow” as back home! One time on business trip back in LA, I treat our Vietnamese staff to this dish in Little Saigon and they all agreed there is nothing like it. Our staff are serious street food eaters here in VN!

  12. You guys are v lucky to have enjoyed these Vietnamese meals available and so you can eat whenever you want to. I have been living in a Middle East and been longing for those meals for 30 years…. I can only imagine the smell of Com tam, the flavor of bun bo` kho, pho~,etc that I used to eat when I was growing up in VN. I have tried to make them but was never able to enjoy that same old feeling.

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