Com Ga Phan Rang wins people over with turmeric yellow grains that stay separate yet tender, served with poached chicken that has snappy skin and a fiery ginger fish sauce. The hardest part is getting the amount of cooking liquid right.
The rice is fried first with ginger, garlic and turmeric, so 400g of rice needs only 300ml of the chicken poaching liquid, far less than plain rice. The pot also takes 200ml of fresh coconut water, which sweetens the meat.
This batch weighs about 2.7kg, at roughly 205 calories per 100g.
Method
Clean the chicken, rub it with coarse salt and 1 tablespoon rice liquor for 3 to 5 minutes, then rinse and drain. Blanch it briefly in boiling water with star fruit leaves or diluted vinegar to clear any off smell.
Bring 700ml water to a boil with the onion cut into wedges, the ginger bruised, the lemongrass stalks and 200ml fresh coconut water. Once boiling, add 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, lower in the chicken and poach 12 minutes on each side, then cover and leave another 10 minutes.
Lift the chicken out and plunge it into ice water for 3 to 5 minutes so the skin firms up. Keep the poaching liquid for the rice.
Mix soft and firm rice grains in a 2:1 ratio to make 400g, rinse and drain for about 10 minutes. Finely chop the ginger, garlic and half a red horn chili.
Heat a pan with 2 tablespoons cooking oil and fry the minced ginger, minced garlic and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder until fragrant. Add the rice and stir fry over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes until the grains turn translucent.
Transfer the rice to a pot, add 300ml of the chicken poaching liquid and cook for 25 to 30 minutes until the grains are fluffy with a crisp crust at the bottom.
Make the ginger fish sauce: pound the ginger with half a red horn chili, pour off the liquid and keep the pulp, then mix with 2 tablespoons first press fish sauce, 1 teaspoon kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1 tablespoon lime juice and 1 tablespoon boiling water. Add 1/2 teaspoon MSG if preferred.
Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces, spoon the rice onto plates, arrange the chicken, Vietnamese coriander, cucumber, tomato and sliced chili, then pour over the ginger fish sauce.
Tips
Soft and firm rice grains at a 2:1 ratio give rice that is tender and still separate.
Only 300ml of poaching liquid goes into 400g rice, because the grains have already been fried in oil.
Three to five minutes in ice water firms the chicken skin and makes it snappy.
Rubbing with coarse salt and rice liquor, then a quick blanch, is the step that clears any off smell.
Stop frying the rice with turmeric once the grains turn translucent, since longer leaves the cooked rice dry and hard.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.