Cơm Cháy Chiên Giòn (Crispy Rice Crackers)

"Vàng rụm, giòn tan, bùi bùi bởi cơm cháy chiên, thơm ngọt bởi thịt chà bông, cay nồng bởi vị ớt,…đó là những cảm nhận tuyệt vời về món Cơm Cháy Chiên Giòn."

While watching a live Thuy Nga Paris By Night performance at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas last month, I made friend with a person to my left - mainly because she had authentic Vietnamese food (just kidding but partly true). She was kind enough to share her only 1 bag of store-bought - all the way from Arizona - Cơm Cháy Chiên Giòn (Vietnamese Crispy Rice Crackers) with my two girls.   I thought to myself what can be better than enjoying this treat while watching a live taping of Paris By Night in Vegas; hopefully they didn't catch me on tape munching away.  This snack was so addictive; once you start, it's hard to stop. My daughters probably ate half a bag of it! 

We enjoyed it so much I left the show determined to make this snack.  Cơm Cháy Chiên Giòn is usually  made from  left over rice or sticky rice but since I didn't have any left over, I had to cook a fresh batch then left at room temperture until it's cool. I made two full sheet size.  One to share with friends and the other my daughters finished in a couple days. 

packed it up for to-go

The beautiful golden color and the crispiness is very inviting. The sizzling sound when you drizzle sweet fish sauce over the hot and crispy  rice cake makes cooking  this more fun.  Once the sweet fish sauce and thịt chà bông (cotton pork meat) -yes, that moldy looking thing on the rice  crispy - are added, you  just can't resist. To increase the flavor, this Cơm Cháy Chiên Giòn tastes even better when hot chili pepper is added. I added  a little bit of chili pepper in mine,  just enough to give my girls a little bit of spiciness on their taste buds at a level I know they can handle.

If you have any left over rice at home (be sure it's still fresh and healthy) You can turn these 1 day old rice into a wonderful and hard to resist snack.

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RECIPE: Cơm Cháy Chiên Giòn

Make two full sheet size

Printable Recipe

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Ingredients

4 cups of rice, cooked and then cooled

Thịt Chà Bông (Cotton Meat)

Conola Oil or Vegetable Oil, for frying

For Sweet Fish Sauce

2 tablespoons Fish Sauce

1/2-1 teaspoon Chili Garlic Sauce

1/2 tabelspoon Vinegar

1 tablespoon Sugar

3 tablespoons Water

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Preparing Rice

Place oven rack on the 2nd bottom level.  Turn on the oven to 250 degree.

Prepare a full size baking tray with aluminum foil on the bottom.  Brush oil on the aluminum tray.  This process will make it easier to peel the foil off the rice after baking. 

Pour cooked rice into a baking tray.  Use your hand or a spatula to flatten rice evenly on the tray about a little bit less than half inch.  Keep your hand moist with oil to prevent rice from sticking on your hand.

Place rice tray in the oven and set the baking time for 1 hour.

bake at 250º

Prepare another full size baking tray with an aluminum foil with oil. Remove rice tray from the oven. Lift the rice sheet from the tray and flip it up-side-down onto the receiving tray. Remove the hot aluminum foil.

Place rice tray into the oven and bake it for another hour. 

Remove rice from the oven.  By now, the rice should be dried on both sides.  Remove the aluminum foil and put it on a cooling rack to cool it down. 

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Preparing Sweet Fish Sauce

Mix all the sweet fish sauce ingredients together.  Set it aside.

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Frying Rice and Assembling Rice Crackers

Prepare a large plate with napkin on the bottom. 

Bring oil on high heat.

When the rice sheet is cool, break it into pieces.  The rice will expand once you fry it so be sure the size of the  rice pieces are smaller than the fry pan. 

The oil needs to be very hot when frying the rice.  The rice will turn brown quickly so don't take  your eyes off  it.

Remove fried rice from frying pan and place it the napkin plate so that the oil can be absorbed into the napkin.

homemade Tuna Cotton Meat

Drizzle sweet sauce over the rice while it's still hot; it will sizzle. Sprinkle cotton meat over it.  Transfer it to a baking tray (you don't need to place aluminum foil on the bottom of the tray this time). Repeat with the remaining  rice.

This batch I used my homemade Tuna cotton meat (cá Tuna chà bông) and added some mỡ hành (scallion oil)

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Drying Rice Cake

turn on the oven to 250º

You should have two trays of crispy rice crackers.  Place each tray back in the oven for about 5-7 minutes.  This process is to dry off the fish sauce and to keep the rice crackers crispy for a few weeks.  Continue with the second tray.

Store crispy rice crackers in a container with tight fitting lid. The crispiness will last for at least a week.

for the adventuresome....add sriracha hot chili sauce

Take a bite out of this crispy treat anytime of the day!