User:Koonlew/Com Tam

Cơm Tấm or Com Tam is a Vietnamese dish made from  rice with fractured rice grains. Tấm refers to broken rice grains, while cơm refers to cooked rice. Although there are varied names like cơm tấm Sài Gòn (Saigon-style broken rice), particularly for Saigon, the main ingredients remain the same for most cases.

History
In its early days, Com Tam was a popular dish among poor rice farmers in the Mekong Delta due to their economic circumstances. During bad rice seasons, these people didn't have enough good rice sell, so they used broken rice to cook. Broken rice is fragments of rice grains broken during the handling processes and was regarded as inferior rice at the time. Broken rice was used solely because it was readily available in their house and could fill their stomach for a long time.

Since the urbanization in the first half of the 20th century in Vietnam, Com Tam became popular across Southen provinces, including Saigon. When Saigon was bustling with many people from many countries around the world, Hainanese immigrants in Saigon, who have experience cooking for Western people, adapted Com Tam to be more suitable for foreign customers like the French, American, Chinese, and Indian. As a result, grilled pork, chả trứng (Vietnamese-style steamed omelet with pork) was added to Com Tam. Also, the portion started being served rice on plates with a fork instead of in traditional bowls with chopsticks. Nowadays, Com Tam is popular among everyone, and is a "standardized part of the [Saigon] culture", so much that there is a common metaphorical saying (translated from Vietnamese): "Saigon people eat Com Tam like Ha Noi people eat Pho".

Ingredients
Although there are many variations of Com Tam that have different ingredients and styles, a popular, featured Com Tam dish commonly known as "Cơm Tấm Sườn Bì Chả" has the following ingredients:


 * Cơm Tấm - Broken Rice
 * Sườn nướng - Grilled pork ribs
 * Bì - thin strands of pork and cooked pork skin seasoned with roast rice powder
 * Chả trứng - Vietnamese-style steamed omelet with meatloaf. Nowadays this may be substituted with an omelet or fried egg Green onion in oil.jpg
 * Scallion and oil garnish - chopped scallion lightly fried in heated oil until soften (serve both scallion and oil)
 * Various veggie such as sliced cucumber & tomato; and pickled vegetables such as carrot and radish pickles
 * Mixed fish sauce (Nước mắm pha) - a sweet, sour, salty, savory, and/or spicy sauce served in a small bowl beside the Com Tam dish. This ingredient is commonly considered an important part of a Com Tam dish

Serving
Although chopstick is commonly used by Vietnamese, fork and spoon are used to enjoy Com Tam; and although the mixed fish sauce is commonly used for dipping in other Vietnamese dishes, for Com Tam, the sauce is for spreading onto the dish as needed.

Honors
Com Tam is one of 10 Vietnamese dishes recognized by the Asia Record Organisation (ARO) for their important culinary value to the international community.