As soon as autumn comes, com (young sticky rice flakes) is sold abundantly in every corner of Hanoi (Photo: vietnammoi.vn) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Hanoi’sautumn is also the season for com or young sticky rice flakes. Com can be eatendirectly or enjoyed with bananas like a snack. It can also be mixed with otherfood ingredients to create a variety of tasty dishes, including cha com(Vietnamese com sausage) and com xao (browned green sticky rice).
Cha com
Unlike other kinds of cha like cha ruoi(nereididae sandworm omelette), cha ca (charcoal grilled fish) and cha muc (friedpatties with squid eggs) which are mainly composed of seafood ingredients andlittle fish, cha com is mainly made of com and has the subtle scent of newrice. Other ingredients for the dish include lean pork and pork paste.
Cha com (Vietnamese com sausage), a specialty of Hanoi’s autumn (Photo: giochathanhhai.vn) According to Bui Thi Van, a housewife in Hanoiwho has made cha com for years, selecting the appropriate kind of com isimportant to the quality of the dish. If the cook chooses the wrong kind of com,the dish will become either too crushed or tough.
“Com is divided into two kinds: com inearly autumn and com in the middle of autumn. The grain of the first kind isthin and soft, suitable for vegetarian dishes or being eaten with bananas. Thesecond is a bit thicker and a little hard, suitable for cooking pudding and chacom,” Van said.
“Com is sold abundantly on the streets whenautumn comes, but the best comes from Vong village on the northwesternoutskirts of Hanoi.
“The meat to mix with com should be leanshoulder pork, which contains fat, so the taste will not become too dry or thedish downsized on being fried. The mixture will then be added with salt,seasoning and delicious fish sauce. It will be left to absorb all the spicesfor less than ten minutes.
“To preserve the original scent of com, noonion or garlic is added,” she said.
After that, the mixture is kneaded intosmall pieces and steamed from 15 to 20 minutes. Finally, cha com is fried untilit becomes light brown on both sides. According to experienced cooks, insteadof being placed on the plates, pieces of cha com should be arranged on lotusleaves to absorb the subtle scent of the lotus, the symbolic flower of Hanoi’sautumn.
The dish is best when the skin is crisp, cominside soft and the fragrance of the grain mixed with lotus. It can be dippedinto chilli or fish sauce to be eaten with cooked rice or rice noodle.
As the com season lasts only three months.The dish can be frozen in the refrigerator in large quantities for long-termuse so cha com is available all year round. Especially, the sausage, togetherwith bun dau mam tom (fermented shrimp paste with fried tofu and ricevermicelli), has become one of Hanoi’s most popular street foods.
The dish can be found abundantly in cornersand alleys of the capital, but the most renowned stalls can be found in PhatLoc lane, Ma May or Ngo Gach street.
“Bun dau mam tom is my favourite dish forlunch,” said Nguyen Phuong Thao, a regular visitor to a stall in Ngo Gach street.“To me, the dish cannot be complete without cha com. The sausage served in NgoGach street is thick, delicious and not too greasy. ”
Com Xao
While cha com is a great choice for themain course, com xao is a fantastic idea for dessert or for tea break.
Com xao (browned green sticky rice), a fantastic sweet dish made from com (Photo: healthplus.vn) While not as popular as other dishes madefrom the grain, com xao enchants with the first bite.
For a more sophisticated version, the dishcan be supplemented with thinned copra, which will enhance the buttery tasteand crunchy feeling.
According to Van, com to cook com xao mustbe made in early autumn, soft and plastic. Its colour is not too green butturns a little bit yellow and especially, it must have the scent of the newsticky rice. Though the process of choosing com as its main ingredient is a bitstrict, cooking the dish is not too difficult. Just needing to add sugar,thinned copra and coconut milk, the cook can get ready to make com xao.
“Similar to cha com, as soon as it isfinished, com xao needs to be wrapped in lotus leaves to absorb the subtlescent of lotus,” Van said.
Like fresh young sticky rice flakes, thedish can also be enjoyed like a snack. The eater cuts the dish into pieces anddowns it with a hot cup of lotus tea.
“In the bit cold of early autumn, what ismore pleasant than nibbling pieces of com xao in the lotus fragrance evaporatedfrom hot tea mixed with the fragrance of sticky rice. That’s truly the taste ofHanoi’s autumn,” Van added. - VNA
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