Crispy rice with shredded pork and Vietnamese sausage (Com chay lap xuong cha bong)

My carb days are over a few weeks ago when I decided to go back to the gym. I still have the crave for carbs every now and then. When I looked back at these crispy rice pictures, I realized how much I really miss eating these. The dish is super simple and easy to prepare, yet it makes a great afternoon snack.  All you need are just some left over rice, some Vietnamese sausages, shredded pork or Chinese pork floss and couple more ingredients. In no time, you will have a scrumptious appetizer.
The crispiness of the rice and the saltiness of the fish sauce bring everything together nicely in every bite. The secret to make this addicting appetizer is to pan-fry the rice until it's all brown and crispy. The crispier the rice, the better it tastes so be patient when frying this. I am still salivating while looking at these pictures, hmmm.... maybe I should reconsider my low-carb diet!




Ingredients:

1. 2 cups of cooked rice
2. 1 Vietnamese sausage (lap xuong)
3. 1/2 cup of shredded pork (cha bong) or Chinese pork floss
4. 1/4 cup of tiny dried shrimp (Ruoc)
5. Scallion and cooking oil
6. Mixed garlic fish sauce (nuoc cham), recipe's below.

Method:

- In a medium frying pan, add about a couple tablespoons of oil. Once the oil is heated, add the rice and spread it evenly on the pan (you could also spread the rice a small plate and gently slide it down into the frying pan). Let the rice crisps up in the pan for a good 15 minutes or more until it turns golden brown then flip it over with a spatula and fry it on the other side for another 10 minutes. 
- Slice the sausages into thin slices and fry it in another pan with no oil added for a few minutes. Make the scallion oil by adding chopped scallion into a small sauce pan with 1/4 cup of oil, season with a pinch of salt and a pinch of mushroom seasoning.

- To make the garlic fish sauce :

              - 5 cloves of garlic (minced finely)

              - 2 thai red chili peppers

              - 5 tsp of vinegar

              - 8 tsp of fish sauce

              - 4 tbsp of sugar

              - 3/4 cup of water

 

Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl until the sugar has all dissolved

 - Once the rice is golden brown and crispy on both sides, remove from the pan a place on a serving plate. Spread a thin layer of the scallion oil, then top it off with the shredded pork. Add a couple sprinkles of the dried shrimps and arrange the sausages on top. Drizzle a few teaspoons of garlic fish sauce and server immediately while it's still hot and crispy.