Enjoying Hue style rice with baby clams

(VNF) - Com hen (rice with baby clams) is no longer the preserve of the poor people in Central Vietnam, but the favorite of Hue locals and tourists, thanks to its simplicity and deliciousness.

Com hen is served with a little rice and lots of vegetables, herbs and fruit. Place a just a little rice about 1/2 rice bowl to a large bowl. Place herbs, vegetables, rice cracker around a bowl. Add clams in the center. Top with fried pork fat, roasted peanut, fried shallots. Drizzle on some fermented shrimp sauce and clam broth.

Com hen has a sweet-smelling flavor of rice, onion, as well as strange tastes of sweet, buttery, salty, sour, and peppery-hot. (Photo: kunona_b)

With a quite complex recipe, including crunchy cold rice, clams, fried pork fat, roasted peanuts, chili pepper, banana flower, star fruit or crisp, green apple, mint herb, Vietnamese coriander (rau ram), bac ha (taro stem), fermented shrimp sauce and the most indispensible sauce, clam broth, “com hen” let us enjoy all sweet, buttery, salty, sour, bitter, and extremely peppery-hot tastes at once.

The most interesting thing here is the special combination of the cold rice and the hot clam broth. (Photo: quynhsumakeup)

Besides, the mixed fruits and vegetables bring fresh, crispy, vibrant flavors that are bound to abate the hot of the summer, while the piping hot of the clam broth is supposed to warm guests’ hearts in the winter. It is tempting to enjoy a savory bow of “com hen”.

Moreover, it is a low-priced specialty, thus you could eat it in luxurious restaurants in Hue or even in vendoring mobile shops on the streets./.

( Compiled by VNF )