Cơm hến, or Vietnamese baby clam rice, is a specialty dish hailing from the coastal city of Hue in Vietnam. This flavorful Vietnamese dish features a base of fragrant rice topped with baby clams, herbs, peanuts, crispy pork rinds, and a tangy fish sauce dressing.
Cơm hến offers a unique combination of textures and tastes, making the recipe a must-try dish for seafood enthusiasts and lovers of Vietnamese cuisine. This article will show you exactly how to create this classic Vietnamese dish at home.
Cơm Hến – A Hue Specialty in Vietnam
Cơm hến is a local dish from Hue that comes with various toppings. The delicacy Vietnamese baby clam rice is a bowl filled with fragrant rice grains adorned with an array of toppings like peanuts, fresh vegetables, and tender clam meat.
But that’s not all! This rice dish often comes with crispy fried rice paper or fried wonton wrappers, adding a delightful crunch to each bite. To enhance the experience, a simple yet flavorful broth made of boiled clam water accompanies the dish.
Plus, the rice grains for cơm hến shouldn’t be mushy or broken, which is why leftover rice works perfectly.
Regarding baby clams, you should use freshwater clams for the recipe instead of saltwater ones. These clams are typically found buried in mud and lack a fishy odor. They have a natural sweetness and are about the size of a shirt button.
What Tools Are Needed for Making Cơm Hến?
To make Vietnamese baby clam rice, you only need simple tools like:
What Are the Ingredients for Cơm Hến?
Here are the basic ingredients for nailing a perfect bowl of Vietnamese baby clam rice. Most of these ingredients are available at Asian supermarkets.
How to Create Perfect Vietnamese Cơm Hến?
Vietnamese baby clam rice requires you to learn how to clean the clams right, how to cook them, and how to get the peanuts ready. You also need to learn how to make a good soup that goes well with it.
How to Prepare Baby Clams?
If you’ve never worked with baby clams before, I suggest getting the pre-cooked package of these mollusks. However, if you insist on using fresh clams, here’s how you can process them.
Step 1: Prepare The Peanuts
Pour annatto oil into the skillet and wait for the oil to heat up. Then, stir-fry the peanuts until you get a light golden hue. Transfer the peanuts to a small bowl with the heated oil.
Step 2: Stir-Fry The Clam
In the same skillet, you should retain some Annato oil for stir-frying the minced white stalk of green onion.
Proceed to incorporate the baby clams and mix thoroughly to prevent the meat from shrinking. Season the clam with ground pepper, chili powder, sugar, and fermented shrimp sauce.
Stir constantly to evenly distribute the spices. Then, add a few basil leaves to add more appealing flavors to the clam.
Step 3: Stir-Fry The Fermented Shrimp Sauce
Heat the pan with annatto oil and stir-fry the minced lemongrass stalk.
Continue to put into the skillet fermented shrimp sauce, boiled clam water, and chili powder. Then, you need to stir until the mixture thickens.
Step 4: Make An Accompanying Soup
You want to boil the clam water with a bit of the shrimp sauce and stir until the sauce is fully dissolved.
Step 5: Assemble The Rice Bowl
Assemble the bowl with the rice at the base, followed by raw veggies like bean sprouts, banana blossoms, and giant elephant ear stems. Then, place the clam in the center, accompanied by a sprinkle of stir-fried peanuts.
Make sure to serve the rice bowl along with a warm clam water soup with a few ginger slices. Served with extra fermented shrimp sauce, the rice bowl is best enjoyed when mixing all the ingredients together.
You can pour the soup into the rice bowl or enjoy the two items separately. Don’t forget to adjust the flavor using lime juice or fresh chili.
What Are Tips While Making Cơm Hến?
Here are some tips you should know when making Vietnamese baby clam rice.
What To Serve With Cơm Hến?
Regarding side dishes, the rice bowl is mainly customized by adding toppings like pork rinds, starfruits, fried pork fat, or Asiatic pennywort. In Hue, the capital of Thua Thien Hue, locals even usually go for the mentioned toppings.
However, you may also encounter many stores offering fried rice paper or fried wonton wrappers to add a crunchy note to this rice dish.
How To Store And Reheat Leftovers?
Vietnamese baby clam rice is designed to be served in one go, so I suggest you enjoy the dish within the day. However, if there’s still leftover, you should wrap it in a plastic food wrapper and chill the dish in a refrigerator for an extra day.
To reheat the dish, you can take the dish out of the refrigerator and give the rice a quick stir-fry. Note that the flavor may be affected if you decide to reheat it.
Are You Excited To Give Cơm Hến A Try?
I know many may not have heard about Vietnamese baby clam rice before, but the recipe is a great way to explore Vietnamese cuisine, especially delights from the central part of the country. I hope this guide will soon inspire you to create this rice dish right at home.
Finally, don’t forget to share this article with other home chefs around you so they can also enjoy Vietnamese foods. While at it, you can drop a comment and tell everyone about your thoughts about this delight.
Cơm Hến Recipe (Vietnamese Baby Clam Rice)
Equipment
- Pot
- Ladle
- Non-stick skillet
Ingredients
- 17.6 ounces baby clam meat
- 200 ml boiled clam water
- 5 teaspoons fermented shrimp sauce
- Around 3 ounces of peanuts
- 1 tablespoon minced lemongrass
- 1 tablespoon minced white onion stalk
- 1.5 teaspoons ground pepper
- 2.5 tablespoons annatto oil
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 5 bowls of leftover rice
- Bean sprouts
- Sliced banana blossoms
- Giant elephant ear
- Basil leaves
- Ginger slices
Instructions
- Prepare the peanuts by stir-frying them with 2 tablespoons of Annatto oil until they have a lightly golden color. Remove the peanuts with some of the heated oil.
- Retain some of the Annatto oil in the skillet to stir-fry the minced white onion stalk.
- Quickly add the clam to the skillet to avoid the meat from shrinking and becoming chewy. Season the mixture with 1.5 teaspoons of ground pepper, a teaspoon of chili powder, a teaspoon of sugar, and 2 teaspoons of fermented shrimp sauce.
- Stir the clam meat evenly before adding a few basil leaves for an extra appealing aroma.
- Heat the skillet with half a teaspoon of Annatto oil to stir-fry the minced lemongrass stalk.
- Continue to add two teaspoons of the fermented shrimp sauce with two ladles of boiled clam water and a teaspoon of chili powder. Mix until the concoction becomes thickened.
- As for the accompanying soup, add a teaspoon of the fermented shrimp sauce to the remaining boiled clam water and stir until the sauce completely dissolves.
- Assemble the bowl with rice at the bottom with toppings like sliced giant elephant ear stems, sliced banana blossom, and stir-fried peanuts. Make sure to serve cơm hến alongside the seasoned soup with a few ginger slices.
Video
Notes
- The recipe is for 5 servings.
- You can use thin rice noodles in place of the rice for a unique twist.
- Aside from toppings like giant elephant ear stems, banana blossoms, or peanuts, you can opt for sliced star fruits or crunchy pork rinds.
- You can also poach the raw vegetables so they’re easier to consume with cơm hến.
- Enjoy the rice dish when hot for the best experience.
Nutrition
Tien – Alden
Content Writer
Expertise
Home Cooking, Recipe Development, Food Editor, Beverage Editor, Cooking-video Maker, Asian Food Content Creator
Education
Saigon Tourism College
Advanced Culinary Workshop, Beijing
Vietnamese Traditional Cooking School
American College of Vietnam
Alden is a skilled chef with expertise in Asian cuisines, known for blending traditional Vietnamese and Chinese cooking with contemporary innovations. Alden’s passion for Asian flavors and her creative approach to both food and beverages inspires fellow chefs and those aspiring to enter the field.