Fried rice with crunchy particles (Vietnamese: cơm chiên hạt giòn) is a Vietnamese style fried rice with a ratio of 7 soft rice and 3 crispy-fried rice particles. It may also be called cơm chiên 7/3, cơm chiên bảy ba, or cơm chiên ba bảy, which reflects the rice ratio.
Unlike common fried rice, you need an extra step to crispy-fried some rice first. To make these crunchy rice particles, you need dried cooked rice. Some cooks may coat those rice grains thinly with tapioca starch, corn starch or wheat flour, while other don’t. Then you deep-fry it in oil until they are crispy. The next step, you put the fried rice in a mortar and use a pestle to break those rice grains into smaller particles.
In Vietnam, there are many rice cultivars and the best rice for fried rice dishes in general is from fluffy rice cultivar. Fluffy rice absorbs water more and is less sticky when cooked.
This recipe shows a basic vegan fried rice dish. In short, it is fried rice with crunchy particles and chopped tofu skins and greens.
Marinate tofu skin shreds with fermented tofu, 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, 1 teaspoon of granule seasoning for about 30 mins. In a saucepan, deep-fry the marinated tofu skin shreds until they are golden brown. Use a mortar and a pestle to crush the fried tofu skin shreds after they are cooled off.
In a frying pan, heat 2 tablespoon of cooking oil, then reduce the heat. Add 5 cups of cooked rice, then 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of granule seasoning, and stir and crush if there are some rice chunks. When the rice is becoming hardened, add chopped napa cabbage, and sir for 1 min. Next, add tofu skin shreds, and the crispy particles and stir well. Finally, add half of the minced ginger and chopped coriander and toss up then turn off the heat.
Adjust the rice with the ratio of 7:3 if something in this recipe is not clear.