C O N T E N T S

What is com?

Special green com

Com abroad

Crispy Shrimp coated in Green Rice

R E L A T E D
I N F O

(In Vietnamese, but the photos are worth checking out for reference! If you read Vietnamese, these pages by Mrs. Cam Tuyet in Vietnam provide in depth knowledge.)

Recipes featuring com

Importance of com to Hanoians

Com Lan Vong

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Sometimes it's hard to translate words from one language into another without losing a fair amount of its significance. This is one of those times, and the item at hand is com (pronounced "kohm?" with an upward interrogative tone). Though this term is related to rice, don't mistaken it for the com that means cooked rice or a meal. On this occasion, we're talking about specially processed sticky (glutinous/sweet) rice grains.

Gail from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, got me mildly obsessed about com when she asked about replicating some fried shrimp coated in com green rice that she'd enjoyed on a visit to Hue. In assisting her with figuring out that mystery, I looked into com's background.

What is Com?

It is freshly harvested sticky (glutinous/sweet) rice that's been toasted to bring out its delicate flavor. It can be eaten as is and out of hand. Because it's a precious commodity, connoisseurs recommend chewing on just a pinch at a time to truly savor the natural sweetness of the rice. Though the grains quickly lose their delicate qualities (some say within 24 hours!), Viet people enjoy them past their prime in other dishes. For example, they can be featured in rice cakes called banh com, which often appear during special events like engagement ceremonies or Tet, made into ice cream, or suspended in a sweet dessert soup. The grains may stir-fried with sugar and oil, a preparation that sounds rich and dandy. They may also be popped and mixed with sugar syrup into a Vietnamese rice crispy treat. With the fried shrimp recipe presented here, you can also use com like breadcrumbs to create a wonderful coating for fried food. The com available abroad (at right) is okay but not a fair representation of what's in Vietnam.

Special Green Com

Com can come from different parts of Vietnam but there is one particular kind that's most prized - that from Vong village (Lang Vong) located on the outskirts of Hanoi, right off the highway and a few hundred meters from the Ha Pagoda. For northern Vietnamese, particularly Hanoians, com from Lang Vong has a special place in their hearts. The rice grown in that village is wonderfully flavored and fragrant, a unique artisanal product that's only grown and harvested in autumn by farmers of that village. Super fresh com from Vong village is considered the best. During com season, some people place a some on their ancestral altar as an offering.

According to archival records, Lang Vong has been making com green rice for at least 700 years. The process of growing, harvesting, and processing the rice is apparently a long-guarded secret of faming families of that village. It's been said that to keep the knowledge in the family, only sons and daughters-in-laws are taught how to make com. (Once married, a daughter has to go off to be with her husband and his family. If she revealed the family's secret to the in-laws, it could increase competition for her blood family's livelihood.)

What is public knowledge is that making com requires lots of work. For the best com, only grains of nep hoa vang, a variety of sticky rice that yields smallish round grains, is used. To check the readiness of the grains, the farmers pick and bite on some of the raw grains. If it tastes as sweet as milk, then it is harvest time. Grains that are too old won't have a nice green coloring. Grains that are too young will fall apart when pounded. The grains have be just right. Harvesting in the middle of the night is not uncommon. (These are committed people!)

The rice is hand harvested and then winnowed using a large, flat bamboo tray. The grains are then slowly dry roasted over a wood-fire and then transferred to a large mortar and pestle. Gentle, rhythmic pounding removes the husks from the grains, which are then winnowed and pounded again. (Extracted green juice from crushed young rice plants may be added during this process to yield a more vibrant green color.) The winnowing and pounding happens exactly seven (7) times to remove the husk. If there's too much pounding, the rice loses its green cask and turns brown. Once done, the finished com is carefully stored in layers of lotus leaves so that it may remain fresh and tender. Some people say that com is at its ultimate best within 24 hours of being processed. (Photos of com and how it is made are posted on this page from Nguoi Vien Xu website. For more in Vietnamese only, see the sidebar of this page.)

In the past, Lang Vong village was full of rice paddies and farmers devoted to com production. The economic growth of the 1990s has led to development in the village and the loss of farm lands. Writer Phu Duc notes:

During the 1990s, Vong green rice became very hard to find because much of the farmland was sold to make room for large, cement villas and high buildings. The number of farmers making green rice shrunk dramatically. In 1998 Kumi asked me if we could go visit a family in Vong that still made green rice. We went to the village but found that just a handful of families were still making it. The roads in the village were surfaced. Some farmers that sold their land moved some distance away while people from elsewhere moved into the village. Vong, as a green rice village, now lives on only in the minds of those who remember that special taste.

For older Vietnamese, com has a sentimental value. In an essay called "Secrets of Com," Ham Chau reminds us of an old folk ballad that mentions places known for certain food ingredients and the value of the green rice:

Com from Vong, rice from Me Tri,
Soy sauce from Ban and mint from Lang are the best.
And
I did not know that had married
Now the com I had kept for your wedding gift has turned moldy. . .

Perhaps much is lost in the translatio, but the idea is there. Com is well regarded in the Viet foodways. With the rise in tourism in Vietnam, who knows, maybe the government or some creative entrepreneur will revive com production in Vong village.

Com Abroad

If you're lucky enough to have a connection in Vietnam, you may have com Lang Vong sent to you. (Apparently, there is a certain amount being produced. My mother recently received some.) Barring that situation, com is sold at many Vietnamese American markets in the form of com dep - flat com - which is dyed a rather brilliant green as a reminder of the wonders of great fresh com. The com sold abroad is labeled "rice flakes" and they resemble green oats. Vastly different from their original concept, the packaged stuff lasts a long time.

Deep fried, as in this fried shrimp recipe below, the grains are deliciously nutty and hold their crispiness for some time. They have flavor, wheras Japanese panko or regular breadcrumbs don't.

Crispy Shrimp Coated with Green Rice
Tom Chien Com

Serves 4 as a snack

1/2 pound shell-on medium or large shrimp
Salt
1 egg
31/2 tablespoons cornstarch or 5 tablespoon tapioca starch
½ cup green rice flakes (com dep)
Canola or corn oil for deep frying
Sriracha or Cholimex* hot chili sauce, for dipping
1. Peel the shrimp, leaving the shell on the last segment and the tail so that the shrimp is easy to manipulate during coating.

2. Devein the shrimp. For a nice presentation, butterfly the shrimp by cutting the back nearly all the way through (but not) and then pressing the shrimp open. You can opt to do a Japanese approach to straighten the shrimp out by making 3 or 4 shallow cuts in the inner curve of the shrimp body near the fatter end; press down on the shrimp and it will more or less lay straight, allowing you to dip and roll each one easily later. Or, just leave the shrimp as is.

3. To refresh the shrimp, toss them in a liberal amount of salt and then immediately rinse them with lots of cold water. Drain well and dry well with paper towel.

4. In a small bowl, combine the egg and cornstarch (or tapioca starch), beating with a fork to blend well. It will seem hard to accomplish but keep at it and eventually, everything will combine into a silky finish. Put half of the green rice flakes on plate and set aside. Nearby, have a plate and paper towel handy for draining the finished shrimp.

5. Use a saucepan, wok, or deep skillet to fry in. Pour in the oil to a depth of 11/2 and heat over medium-high heat to 325 to 350ºF on a deep-fry thermometer. If you don't have a deep-fry thermometer, stick a dry bamboo chopstick into the oil; if after a few seconds, bubbles to the surface, the oil is ready.

6. Dip each shrimp into the egg batter, holding it suspended above the batter to allow excess batter to drip off. Immediately roll (or turn) the shrimp around in the flakes to coat. The flakes don't need to cover every bit of shrimp; they will puff up a bit during frying. Slide the shrimp into oil and fry for 1 to 2 minutes, flipping midway to ensure even coating. The rice flakes will brown ever so lightly and that's okay. They should keep most of their green coloring.

Fry as many shrimp as can comfortably fit into your cooking vessel. Transfer finished shrimp to the paper towel to cool and drain. Lightly sprinkle with salt and serve with the chile sauce as a dip.

Note:

Cholimex is an excellent chile sauce made in Vietnam. Terrific flavor. Buy a 6-pack when you're there and take it home in your suitcase!

To temper the Sriracha chile sauce, make this little sauce for dipping the shrimp. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons Sriracha hot chili sauce (Rooster/Huy Fong brand), 2 teaspoons water, and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar and serve.

Sources:

Ham Chau. "Secrets of Com." The Cuisine of Viet Nam: Nourishing a Culture. Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers, 2005.