Vietnamese chicken and rice, or ‘com ga’ in Vietnamese, is a popular dish which is served a variety of different styles although the basic cooking technique is the same with sauces and other ingredients added at the end of the cooking process depending upon which variety of chicken and rice dish is being served.
Vietnamese chicken and riceThis plain Vietnamese chicken and rice came from Tiệm Ăn Cát Tường Restaurant which is in Saigon near the Independence Palace at 61 Thủ Khoa Huân, Phường Bến Thành, 1, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam.
About Vietnamese chicken and rice
Vietnamese chicken and rice is cooked in the same way as the better known Hainanese chicken and rice, which is eaten all over South East Asia: in Thailand the dish is known as ‘khao man gai’; in Malaysia its called ‘nasi ayam’; in Indonesia the dish is called ‘nasi hainam’; and in Cambodia the name of the dish is ‘bay moan’. In all these countries, as well as in Vietnam, the basic cooking technique is the same. The chicken is cooked whole in a stock containing ginger and other flavourings, then the same stock is used to cook the rice. The way the dish is then finished varies from region to region, and from country to country. Different vegetables, sauces and other accompaniments are added to the rice and boiled chicken to create a wide variety of Hainanese chicken and rice dishes.
Tiem An Cat Tuong Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh CityThe most popular Vietnamese chicken and rice dish is ‘Cơm gà rau thơm’ in which the boiled chicken is shredded and fried with mint and placed on top of the rice with a herb dip. This is a novel and uniquely Vietnamese style of Hainanese chicken and rice, but still essentially the same dish. The more traditional version of Hainanese chicken and rice is called ‘cơm gà hải nam’ which is almost identical to the Thai ‘khao man gai’ except that the Vietnamese version comes with an orange chilli sauce made using the juice of kumquats.
The variety of different Hainanese chicken and rice style dishes in Vietnamese is exceptional and unique; in most South East Asian countries there is generally a standard recipe which is used more or less everywhere, whereas in Vietnamese there are many different recipes used depending on where you are in the country.
Location of Tiem An Cat Tuong
Tiem An Cat Tuong Restaurant is located 3.4 km from Saigon Railway Station.