Vietnamese dishesRice DishesSouthern Vietnamin practice about 90 minutes
Com ga xoi mo comes down to two things: rice fried dry and separate, and chicken skin blistered crisp. The bird sits in a poaching liquid scented with cinnamon and star anise, so the meat stays tender and sweet. The hardest part is the basting, because skin that is not fully dry spits in the oil and never puffs.
The skin needs 25 to 30 minutes to drain and then a wipe with paper towels before the hot oil goes over it. Rice cooked with less water and left to cool completely fries up in separate grains, while warm rice clumps into sheets.
This batch weighs about 3.3kg, at roughly 187 calories per 100g.
Method
Rinse 500g Nang Huong rice and cook it with about half a liter of water, then spread it out to cool completely.
Wash the chicken with wine or vinegar to take away any smell, then chop it into pieces.
Set a pan over the heat with 1 tablespoon cooking oil and fry 4 slices ginger, 3g cinnamon and 4g star anise. Once they are fragrant, add 7 cloves and turn off the heat.
Bring 2 liters of water to a boil and tip in the fried spices. Season with 1 tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon peppercorns, 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon powder, 1 teaspoon kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1 tablespoon mai que lo (Chinese rose wine) and 1 tablespoon honey. Dissolve 1g shrimp roe coloring powder in water and add it. Boil for 5 minutes, turn off the heat and add 1 liter cold water to cool it quickly.
Lower the chicken pieces into the cooled liquid, bring it back over the heat for 10 minutes, then turn it off, cover it and leave the chicken to sit for 15 minutes. Lift the pieces out and drain them for 25 to 30 minutes until the skin is completely dry.
Fry the rice: heat a pot with 2 tablespoons cooking oil, fry 1 tablespoon minced shallot and garlic, add the cooled rice and fry over medium heat. Season with 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder, 2 tablespoons chili sauce and 1 teaspoon shrimp roe coloring, and stir until the rice dries out.
Make the sauce: in another pan with 1 tablespoon cooking oil, fry the remaining minced shallot and garlic over low heat, add 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 3 tablespoons of the chicken poaching liquid, bring it to a boil and turn off the heat.
Pat each piece of chicken dry with paper towels. Heat 2 liters of oil until very hot, set the chicken on a skimmer and ladle the oil over the skin without stopping until it puffs and turns evenly golden.
Serve the rice with the chicken, sliced cucumber and tomato, and the sauce spooned over.
Tips
The poaching liquid has to be completely cool before the chicken goes in, or the skin splits.
Rice fried only once it is fully cold comes out dry and separate, while warm rice clumps together.
The basting oil has to be properly hot and poured continuously over one spot, since the skin collapses the moment it stops.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so stir the sauce again after 5 minutes.
For a deeper color, add a little caramel sauce or dark soy sauce, as kOBE Monk Fruit Blend does not color the dish.
The sauce thickens as it cools, so warm it gently before spooning it over.
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.