What Is Cơm Rang?
Cơm rang means fried rice. That is the name in northern Vietnam; in the south you order it as cơm chiên. Dưa means pickled vegetables, here dưa cải chua, which is sour fermented mustard greens, and bò means beef. In Hanoi, street kitchens serve fried rice and fried noodles in the evening, with beef, chicken (cơm rang gà) or duck (cơm rang vịt). The version with mustard greens is tangier than Chinese-style fried rice with peas and sausage.
The Right Ingredients
- Mustard greens: At an Asian grocery store you'll find them as dưa cải chua or as Chinese suan cai in a jar or bag. Rinse the greens, squeeze them out with your hands and chop them roughly. The brine would add too much water to the wok and make the rice sticky.
- Beef: Sirloin, rump steak or flank all work. Cut the meat against the grain into thin strips. Slightly frozen meat gives you more even strips. Marinate them for 10 minutes with 1 tsp of the soy sauce and a little pepper.
- Rice: Day-old jasmine or other long-grain rice. For 800 g cooked rice you need about 300 g raw rice. For a method that gives fluffy grains, see how to cook jasmine rice.
- Seasoning: The recipe card uses soy sauce. Vietnamese cooks season fried rice with fish sauce (nước mắm). Swap 1 tbsp of the soy sauce for 1 tbsp fish sauce and the rice tastes more Vietnamese.
How to Get the Fried Rice Right
Loosen the Rice
Break up the cold rice with your fingers before frying, until no clumps are left. Freshly cooked rice holds too much water and sticks in the pan. If you don't have day-old rice, spread it on a baking sheet and let it dry out uncovered in the fridge for an hour.
Heat and Order
Set the heat to its highest level before the meat goes in. Put the beef strips in the wok in a single layer and don't stir for the first minute, so they develop a brown crust. If you like the beef tender, take it out after searing and add it back when you season. Fry the mustard greens along with everything else until the edges brown. The heat takes away some of their sourness.
Quantity and Pan
A home stove delivers less power than a gas burner in a restaurant. Four portions fit in a 32 cm wok or pan. In a smaller pan, fry in two rounds. If the rice is piled too high, it steams and clumps together.
Common Mistakes
- Too much soy sauce: Mustard greens bring their own salt. Add only half the soy sauce first, taste, then season further.
- Too little oil: 4 tbsp sounds like a lot. The rice absorbs the oil as you stir, and with less it sticks to the bottom.
- Herbs in the pan: Scatter the cilantro and Thai basil on the plate. In the hot pan they wilt and turn dark.
Variations with Chicken, Duck or Shrimp
For cơm rang gà, replace the beef with 300 g chicken thighs cut into strips. For cơm rang vịt, use the meat of a roasted duck breast and add it only at the end so it stays juicy. With shrimp and no mustard greens you end up at Cơm Chiên Tôm. The Chinese-style version with egg, peas and sausage is called Cơm Chiên Dương Châu. Korean and also tangy is Kimchi Bokkeumbap with fried kimchi.
What to Serve with It
Put a bowl of fish sauce with fresh chili rings and a few cucumber slices on the table. A clear broth in small bowls turns the rice into a full dinner. Use the rest of the mustard greens from the jar for carp with pickled mustard greens.
