Com Tam (Vietnamese Broken Rice with Grilled Pork Chops) — The 15-Minute Weeknight Meal My Mom Never Needed a Recipe For

Sold a $40,000 walk-in cooler to a new seafood restaurant in Chinatown this week. That's a good commission. That's a very good commission. I celebrated by buying a new thermometer probe for the smoker, because I am a forty-one-year-old man whose idea of a splurge is temperature monitoring equipment.\n\nThe restaurant supply business is not glamorous. I drive around the Houston metro in my F-150, meeting with restaurant owners, hotel food service managers, catering companies. I show them catalogs. I tell them why this commercial range is better than that one. I negotiate prices. I follow up. It's sales. But here's the thing — I'm good at it, and the reason I'm good at it is that I know food.\n\nWhen a Vietnamese restaurant owner on Bellaire tells me he needs a new pho pot that can hold thirty gallons, I don't just hand him a catalog. I talk to him in Vietnamese about what kind of pho he's making, how long his broth simmers, whether he's doing northern-style clear broth or southern-style with all the herbs. And then I recommend the right pot. When a BBQ joint owner in Katy says he's looking at offset smokers, I can talk smoke rings and bark and the difference between post oak and mesquite because I've spent twenty years in front of a smoker.\n\nI couldn't have done this job at twenty-five. At twenty-five I was on a shrimp boat with salt in my hair and whiskey in my blood and no plans for tomorrow. Life has a way of putting you where you're supposed to be, but it doesn't always do it on your schedule.\n\nChristine's week with the kids, so the house is quiet again. I made myself com tam — broken rice with grilled pork chops, the Vietnamese street food version. My mom used to make this on weeknights when she didn't have time for an elaborate meal. The pork is marinated in lemongrass, fish sauce, garlic, sugar, and a little shallot. You grill it hot and fast so it chars on the edges. Serve it over broken rice with a fried egg on top, pickled daikon and carrot on the side, and nuoc cham — the sweet-sour fish sauce dipping sauce that ties the whole thing together.\n\nThis is a fifteen-minute meal once the pork is marinated. If you're a guy living alone eating frozen burritos for dinner, I need you to hear me: you can make this. You can marinate pork chops in the morning before work. You can cook rice. You can fry an egg. There is no excuse. The frozen burrito aisle at HEB is not your destiny.\n\nI ate it on the back porch with the radio on. Willie Nelson. The temperature is perfect right now in Houston — low eighties, slight breeze. In two months this city will be a steam room, but right now it's the best place on earth.

There’s something about a perfect Houston evening—Willie on the radio, that brief window before the heat turns brutal—that makes you want to cook something that actually means something. Com tam is the recipe I keep coming back to when I want to feel like I’m doing right by myself, the way my mom did right by us on those busy weeknights. It’s fast, it’s dead simple, and it tastes like it took way more effort than it did. Here’s how to make it.

Com Tam — Vietnamese Broken Rice with Grilled Lemongrass Pork Chops

Prep Time: 10 min (plus 30 min marinade) | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 25 min active | Servings: 2

Ingredients

• Pork & Rice
• 2 thin-cut bone-in pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
• 1 1/2 cups broken jasmine rice (regular jasmine rice works fine)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil, for frying
• Lemongrass Marinade
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 stalk lemongrass, white part only, very finely minced
• 1 small shallot, minced
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Quick-Pickled Daikon & Carrot
• 1/2 cup daikon radish, julienned
• 1/2 cup carrot, julienned
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Nuoc Cham
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 Thai chili, thinly sliced (optional)

Instructions

1. Marinate the pork. Combine fish sauce, sugar, garlic, lemongrass, shallot, oil, and black pepper in a shallow dish or zip bag. Add pork chops and turn to coat. Marinate at least 30 minutes at room temperature, or up to overnight in the refrigerator. If marinating in the morning before work, pull them out when you get home and let them come to room temperature for 15 minutes before cooking.
2. Make the pickles. Toss daikon and carrot with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. Let sit at least 20 minutes — they’ll be ready by the time everything else is done.
3. Mix the nuoc cham. Whisk fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and warm water together until the sugar fully dissolves. Stir in minced garlic and sliced chili if using. Taste and adjust — it should be bright, salty, and a little sweet.
4. Cook the rice. Rinse broken rice under cold water and cook according to package directions or in a rice cooker. Broken rice cooks slightly faster than whole-grain jasmine; check at the 12-minute mark.
5. Grill the pork chops. Heat a cast-iron skillet or grill pan over high heat until it’s very hot — you want a hard sear. Cook pork chops 2 to 3 minutes per side without moving them, until the marinade chars at the edges and the meat is just cooked through. Rest on a cutting board for 2 minutes before serving.
6. Fry the eggs. While the pork rests, add a small splash of oil to a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Crack in the eggs and fry sunny-side up until the whites are fully set and the edges are slightly crispy, about 2 minutes.
7. Assemble the bowls. Mound rice into two bowls. Lay the pork chop alongside or on top of the rice. Place the fried egg over the rice. Add a portion of pickled daikon and carrot to the side. Serve with nuoc cham for dipping or drizzling over everything.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 615 | Protein: 37g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 74g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 1820mg