What is Young Rice – Com?
Young rice (Cốm) is the traditional dish for weddings, mid-autumn festival, and some other celebrations. Newly- harvested sticky rice is stripped of grains. These grains are pounded, then grilled with galangal and rattan leaves to obtain a distinctive light green color, light perfume, and delicious taste, particularly when well-chewed.
The yellow-flowered sticky rice (nếp hoa vàng) produces the best cốm. Cốm is wrapped in lotus leaves, which helps preserve its flavor and a certain degree of moisture. Cốm can be eaten persimmon or banana (chuối tiêu). The cốm season begins on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month. With red persimmons, it constitutes a classical offering for engagement and wedding ceremonies.
How Young Rice – Com is Served?
It may be served dry or shaped into flat cakes (bánh cốm). Stuffed with green bean paste, sugar, and shredded coconut, cốm cakes are wrapped in banana leaves and tied with bamboo strips dyed red. Young rice is also an ingredient in pork paté (chả cốm), roasted duck or pigeon, and even ice cream. The most famous com traditionally comes from the villages of Lủ, Phùng, and particularly Vòng on the outskirts of Hanoi.
