In the previous blog post Cốm – Autumn’s special gifts for Hanoian, we have written about Cốm – the unique ingredients of autumn. Throughout hundreds of years, Vietnamese have found out perfect ways to use Cốm in their meals, or in other words, to harmonize the natural sweetness of Cốm with the taste of other ingredients.
In this second post, we want to introduce some great though simple ways Vietnamese use Cốm in their daily meals, including Crispy Tiger Prawns Coated with Green Rice Recipe, Fried Mixed Shrimp, Pork and Green Rice Flakes with Quail Eggs, and Chả Cốm – Vietnamese pork sausage with Cốm. To discover more about desserts made with Cốm, please read in the next blog post Delicious ways Vietnamese use Cốm in their desserts. The recipes were compiled from various resources.
Crispy Tiger Prawns Coated with Green Rice Recipe
Recipe by Luke Nguyen from Cooked.
Ingredients
- 500 g large raw tiger prawns
- 300 g (10½ oz) pork paste
- 150 g (5½ oz) Cốm
- Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Cook’s notes
Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml.
Instructions
- Peel the cover of the prawns, leaving the heads and tails intact, then devein them.
- With oiled hands, take a heaped tablespoon of pork paste. Shape the paste around the body of one prawn (leaving the head and tail uncovered), pressing it tightly to coat the prawn evenly.
- Repeat with the remaining paste and prawns.
- Sprinkle the rice flakes on a flat tray and roll the prawns in the flakes, creating a thick coating of Cốm around the pork paste.
- Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan to 180°C (350°F), or until a cube of bread dropped into the oil browns in 15 seconds.
- Add the prawns in batches, and deep-fry for until crisp.
Fry as many prawns as can comfortably fit into your cooking pan. When done, transfer the prawn to the paper towel to cool and drain. Serve with the chile sauce as a dip or with Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham). Decorate the plate with some herbs or banana leaves to make look even more Vietnamese and enjoy!
Fried Mixed Shrimp, Pork and Green Rice Flakes with Quail Eggs
Recipe by Vietnamese Food Team
An amazing combination you have ever known. Moreover, your kids will definitely have a fun time with the dish.
Ingredients
- 200gr ground pork meat
- 150 gr fresh shrimps
- 10 quail eggs
- ½ bowl Cốm
Spices: 2 teaspoons salt,1 teaspoon vegetable oil, ½ teaspoon soy sauce, pepper, dried purple onion.
Instructions
- Peel off the cover of shrimps, clean carefully, and minced shrimps.
- Put ground pork meat into a big bowl, add dried purple onion + salt + soy sauce + pepper + oil + minced shrimps together, mix well, wait about 30 minutes. (Mixture A).
- Add a little water on green rice flakes bowl. Next, mix it with Mixture A, and we have Mixture B.
- Boil quail eggs, wait till it cold and peel off the cover.
- Apply a little oil on your hands, use a spoon to scoop a little Mixture B and put on your hand. Press it thinly and add quail egg on the center. Next, cover it into round shape. Continue until mixture B is out.
- Boil oil in a small pot (to save oil). Add one by one grilled meat (in step 5) into the pot, fry until its color turns yellow and crispy.
Finally, your dish is ready to serve. Dipping in chili sauce or ketchup is just simply perfect.
Chả Cốm – Vietnamese sausage with green rice
Chả Cốm is a signature dish of Hanoi. It can be served with various dishes such as noodles or banh gio – Vietnamese pyramid rice dumpling.
Ingredients
- 400gr Cốm
- 200 gr ground pork
- 200 gr pork paste
- 1 egg
- Spices: salt, fish sauce
Instructions
- Pour the Cốm in a large bowl and add 2 eggs. Mix well and wait for about 5 minutes. Don’t add water to the mix as it will make Cốm clotted.
- Put the ground pork and pork paste in the mix and add some fish sauce.
- Apply a little oil on your hands, use a spoon to scoop a little mixture and put it in your hand and shape it like a cookie.
- Steamed at high temperature for 15 minutes.
- Put the oil in a pan and wait until it thoroughly boiled. Fried flip the rolls to make sure it well done on both sides.
Tips
- You may use Cốm that added edible green colour in those dishes to make them more colourful for the kids.
- If you can’t get pork paste, don’t worry. Pound 200 g minced pork, 1/ 2 tablespoon sea salt and a pinch of ground white pepper to a smooth paste using a large mortar and pestle.
- All of the dishes above can be served with Vietnamese dipping sauce – nuoc cham. To make this sauce, just combine water, fish sauce, lime juice, vinegar, sugar, lemongrass, chilli and garlic and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Recently Cốm has been exported around the world, you can easily find it in Vietnamese or Asian markets, or purchase online. Have a good time cooking and enjoy the dishes!
Author: Ha My
