CVietnamese Red Rice (Cơm Đỏ), which means red rice in Vietnamese, is a savory, tangy fried rice using tomato paste. It elevates any dish you want to eat with rice, but I love it especially with Vietnamese Shaking Beef (Bò Lúc Lắc) If you have stale rice and don't want to make a full fried rice dish with all the fixings, this red rice will pack just as much flavor with fewer ingredients.
Pin Vietnamese Red Rice (Cơm Đỏ) to try later!
This rice is my secret weapon. It's a great way to repurpose leftover rice. If you've got lots of leftovers you don't want to eat, adding some red rice makes everything a little more fancy. Cơm Đỏ even tastes great with just a fried egg. It's fragrant, subtly tangy, and the bright, rich color always impresses.
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🍚 Ingredients
You will need:
- cooked, day old rice
- tomato paste
- minced garlic
- neutral cooking oil
- soy sauce or Maggi seasoning
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Preheat your pan to medium-high heat. Add the garlic and sauté until it just begins to brown. Add your stale rice and break up the grains. Add soy sauce and tomato paste and continue stirring until everything is mixed together. Add more soy sauce to taste.
TIP: Using day old rice will ensure that your rice doesn't get mushy and fall apart when you're frying it. Keep your leftover rice in the fridge. If you don't have stale old rice but really want this dish, make fresh rice and spread it on a baking sheet. Put the baking sheet in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to dry it out.
💭 Substitutions
Feel free to use brown rice instead of white for this recipe. You can also use salt instead of soy sauce if you don't want the brown color to dull the red tomato paste. Butter or ghee can be used instead of oil for a creamy, rich taste. Butter burns easily though so you will want to keep an eye on your heat. Ghee has a higher smoke point but still has all the butter flavor.
🍚 Serving suggestions
Eat Cơm Đỏ with anything you'd normally want to eat rice with! It's great with stir fries and grilled meat.
Traditionally, red rice is served with Vietnamese Shaking Beef (Bò Lúc Lắc). Check out my recipe for it!
Vietnamese Red Rice (Cơm Đỏ)
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked rice use cold, day old rice
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
Instructions
- Heat your pan on medium high heat. Add the oil and garlic. Saute the garlic until it just begins to brown.
- Add the cold rice and break it up with your spatula, mixing the fried garlic in with the rice.
- Once the rice grains are separated and coated in oil, add the soy sauce and tomato paste. Continue to stir the rice until the grains are coated with tomato paste.
Notes
- If you don't have stale, cold, day old rice, you can spread freshly cooked rice on a baking sheet and put it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to dry it out.
Nutrition
🦺 Food safety
- Rice should be 40 °F (4 °C) or below.
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
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