Com Tam Suon Bi Cha — Saigon Broken Rice
This com tam recipe plates Saigon's broken rice with a smoky grilled pork chop, shredded pork skin (bi), steamed pork-egg cake (cha trung), a fried egg, pickles and sweet-sour nuoc cham. One serving is about 460 g.
Com tam began in the Mekong Delta, where rice farmers kept the broken grains left over from milling — the fragments too small to sell — and cooked them for their own meals. When those families moved to Saigon, the humble plate grew up: a charcoal-grilled pork chop, shredded pork skin, a steamed pork-egg cake and a fried egg, with pickles and fish sauce, turned leftover rice into one of the city's most loved street dishes. Today com tam stalls are open from breakfast to late night all over Ho Chi Minh City.
Pairs well with: Nuoc cham, pickled vegetables and iced tea
Provenance
Vietnam
Saigon Street Style
East & South Asia
Time Dedication
1h 30m
35m prep • 55m cook
Batch Yield
4 Servings
892 kcal per serving
1 serving ≈ 460 g
Technical Skill
Intermediate
Medium (Several Parts)
Meal Timing & Digestive Fit
Breakfast
Not Advised
Lunch
Prime Metabolic Fit
Dinner
Ideal Hearty Main
Snack & Tea
Inappropriate
Saigon Street Style
Photo: Alpha from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Heritage Formulary
Estimated cost: Medium — about $4–5 per serving at home (USD)
A true com tam plate has broken rice, grilled pork, bi, cha trung and nuoc cham together — a plate missing the egg cake or the pickles is not the full dish.
Execution Methodology & Culinary Technique
Prep Stage: Marinate, Mix, Pickle
35 Mins • Marinating & Mixing
Mix the marinade (fish sauce, sugar, soy sauce, lemongrass, garlic, oil) and coat the pork chops; leave 30 minutes. While they marinate, mix the cha trung (ground pork, 2 eggs, wood ear, glass noodles, a pinch of salt) in a shallow heatproof dish, and toss the carrot and daikon with the pickle sugar and 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar. Mix the nuoc cham (fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, 40 ml water, garlic, chilli) and set aside.
Maestro Tip: Marinate the pork first — everything else is done while it sits, so no time is wasted.
25 Mins Steaming, 100°C (212°F)
Put the soaked broken rice in a steamer lined with a damp cloth and steam 25 minutes until tender and fluffy. Fluff with a fork and keep warm. (A rice cooker works too — use a little less water than for whole rice.)
Broken rice needs less water than whole rice — too much water turns it to mush.
Done when: The grains are tender, separate and a little drier than ordinary steamed rice.
20 Mins Steaming, 100°C (212°F)
While the rice steams, set the cha trung dish in the steamer and steam 20 minutes until set through and the pork is cooked. Let it stand 5 minutes, then cut into 4 squares. Pour the hot oil over the chopped spring onion to make the scallion oil.
Let the cake stand before cutting — a hot cake crumbles, a rested one slices cleanly.
Done when: The cake is firm, set all the way through, and the pork reaches 71°C (160°F) inside.
12 Mins Grill, about 200°C (400°F); pork to 63°C (145°F)
Heat a grill or heavy pan over medium-high heat. Grill the marinated chops 5–6 minutes a side until charred at the edges and cooked through, then rest 3 minutes and slice. The sugar in the marinade chars fast, so watch the heat.
Rest the pork before slicing or the juices run out onto the board.
Done when: The pork is charred at the edges, juicy inside, and reaches 63°C (145°F) before resting.
5 Mins Medium heat, about 160°C (320°F)
Fry the 4 eggs sunny-side up in the oil, 3–4 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks are still runny. Keep them warm.
A lid on the pan for the last minute sets the white over the yolk without flipping.
Done when: The whites are fully set, the yolks are bright and runny.
5 Mins Serve hot — rice and pork above 60°C (140°F)
Spoon the broken rice onto each plate. Lay on the sliced pork, a square of cha trung, a spoonful of bi, and a fried egg. Add the pickles, cucumber and tomato at the side, drizzle with scallion oil, and serve the nuoc cham in a small bowl.
Build the plate in the same order every time: rice first, then pork, egg cake, bi, egg, pickles.
Done when: The plate is full and colourful — white rice, charred pork, golden egg and bright pickles.
Finishing Touches & Plating
Spoon a little nuoc cham over the rice, break the egg yolk so it runs into the rice, and eat the pork with the pickles — every bite should have rice, meat, egg and something sharp.
Nutritional Physiology & Benefits
Energy
892
kcal / serving
Protein
55g
Complete AA
Carbs
85g
Complex
Fats
35g
Healthy
| Energy | 892 kcal |
| Protein | 55 g |
| Carbohydrates | 85 g |
| Fat | 35 g |
| Fibre | 3.1 g |
| Sugar | 11.6 g |
| Sodium | 1506 mg |
| Energy | 194 kcal |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Carbohydrates | 18.5 g |
| Fat | 7.5 g |
| Fibre | 0.7 g |
| Sugar | 2.5 g |
| Sodium | 327 mg |
Nutrition values are estimated — calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for the listed ingredients.
Vitamins & minerals: Vitamin B12 and iron (pork), vitamin B6 (pork, egg), vitamin A (egg yolk), vitamin C (tomato, pickles).
Very High in Protein
Grilled pork, egg cake and fried egg give about 55 g of protein per serving — one of the highest-protein plates in Vietnamese cooking.
Fresh Pickles Balance the Plate
Pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber and tomato add fibre and crunch, and cut the richness of the pork.
Rice That Holds Its Texture
Broken rice steams up soft and a little drier than whole rice, so it soaks up the nuoc cham without going soggy.
Food Pairings
To optimize nutrient absorption and elevate the sensory depth, pair with these authentic accompaniments:
Sauces
Nuoc Cham
The sweet-sour fish sauce is the soul of the plate — spooned over the rice, it ties the pork, egg and pickles together.
Vegetables
Pickled Carrot and Daikon
The sharp, vinegary carrot and daikon cut through the rich pork and egg and keep the plate from feeling heavy.
Drinks
Iced Tea
Cold, unsweetened iced tea washes down the smoky pork and salty sauce without adding sugar.
Full Menus
As a Saigon Street-Stall Plate
Serve the plate as a complete meal with the nuoc cham on the side — the way a Saigon street stall would.
Complete menu
Serve the com tam as a complete plate with a small bowl of nuoc cham on the side and iced tea; a light cucumber-tomato salad is already on the plate.
Digestive Guardrails
To prevent digestive distress, sluggishness, or palate clash, avoid pairing the dish with these elements:
Leaving Cooked Rice Out
Cooked rice left at room temperature grows bacteria quickly; cool leftovers fast and refrigerate within 2 hours, and reheat the rice until steaming hot. This is general information, not medical advice.
Overcooking the Pork
Overcooking the pork chops dries them out — pull them at 63°C (145°F) and rest them, or the smoky marinade is wasted on tough meat.
General information only, not medical advice — consult a doctor for personal dietary decisions.
Who Should Eat It
Health Conditions — Adjust or Avoid
If you have a medical condition, consult your doctor before changing your diet.
Storage & Use
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WARNING: This dish is made from raw duck blood and eating it is NOT recommended. Raw blood can carry Streptococcus suis (which causes meningitis and sepsis — people in Vietnam have died after eating pig-blood tiet canh), avian influenza from duck blood, salmonella and other dangerous germs. Vietnam's Ministry of Health advises against eating tiet canh, and no preparation method — not even blood from a fresh or trusted source — makes raw blood fully safe. This page describes the traditional Hanoi preparation, tiết canh vịt, for cultural knowledge only. One serving is about 241 g: a small bowl of fresh duck blood mixed with fish sauce, poured over finely chopped cooked duck meat and left to set into a soft, trembling jelly, then finished with crushed roasted peanuts, fresh herbs, lime and chili, and served cold.
Cultural Discovery
A traditional northern Vietnamese snack of raw duck blood set into a soft jelly with cooked duck meat, herbs and peanuts — described here for cultural knowledge, with a serious safety warning.
