A large gray plate on a white marble background. The plate contains a large round plain white rice ball, slices from another rice ball that had been cut, slices of Vietnamese sausage, pork floss, and a red bowl of muối vừng: a combination of toasted sesame seeds, crushed roasted peanuts, and salt.

Mai

This is probably one of THE most rustic foods in Vietnamese cuisine. It feels strange even calling this a “dish” because it’s so simple. Yet it holds a special place in the hearts and childhood memories of a lot of Vietnamese people- particularly those who lived through the war and thời bao cấp- the difficult post-war subsidy period when access to food was not guaranteed. Many people from my grandparents and parents’ generations remember packing cơm nắm muối vừng as they evacuated from their homes due to threats of American bombs.

Even after the hard times were over, this was and still is a super convenient dish/snack to pack for family/school trips or picnics. Nowadays, you can find street food vendors selling it with additional toppings like ruốc (known in the south as chà bông)- i.e. pork floss, and giò/chả- different types of Vietnamese sausages.

Cơm is Vietnamese for cooked rice, and nắm means to ball up something. The rice ball itself contains no additional ingredient- just rice. That’s why the quality and flavor of the rice are very important. You need to use a type of rice that is moist and fragrant- which would ensure that (1) the rice grains will stick together and form a ball rather than falling apart and (2) the rice has enough taste on its own as the star of the show. I recommend a high quality long-grain non-glutinous rice, like jasmine. While we want the rice to be just sticky enough to form the rice ball, we don’t want to use glutinous rice- since that becomes what we call xôi in Vietnamese, instead of cơm.

While cooking fresh rice just for the purpose of making cơm nắm will yield the best result, if you make rice for a meal and have some left over, you can absolutely make a rice ball with this.

Muối vừng is the name of the dipping mix, with muối being salt and vừng being sesame. While not in the name, peanuts are also a common ingredient- making the dipping mix more fatty and filling. The ingredients are toasted, and mixed together. Muối vừng isn’t only paired with rice balls, you can sprinkle it over your bowl of rice during a meal, eat it with boiled/steamed vegetables, and some places even dip meat in it.

The ratio of peanuts to sesame seeds depends on each person or family’s personal preference. I personally prefer more sesame than peanuts, but you can adjust to your liking!

INGREDIENTS FOR CƠM NẮM MUỐI VỪNG

Rice – Gạo: You need to use a type of rice that is moist and fragrant- which would ensure that (1) the rice grains will stick together and form a ball rather than falling apart and (2) the rice has enough taste on its own as the star of the show. I recommend a high quality long-grain non-glutinous rice, like jasmine. While we want the rice to be just sticky enough to form the rice ball, we don’t want to use glutinous rice- since that becomes what we call xôi in Vietnamese, instead of cơm.
Sesame seeds – Hạt vừng/mè
Peanuts – Lạc/Đậu phộng
Salt – Muối

DIRECTIONS FOR CƠM NẮM MUỐI VỪNG

Cook rice in rice cooker or pot. We want our rice to be slightly stickier than normal.
Using wet hands or a damp piece of clean cheesecloth, shape the rice into a tight & smooth ball. For the quantities above, I recommend dividing the rice into 2 balls.
Let the rice sit on the counter to completely cool to room temperature.
Add peanuts into a large pan that can fit them in a single layer and turn stove on to medium low. If using raw peanuts: roast while stirring constantly until golden and fragrant. If using pre-roasted peanuts, toast while stirring for 2-3 minutes until warm and fragrant.
Pour peanuts to mortar and use pestle to crush. Pour into a bowl and set aside.
Add sesame seeds into the pan and heat on medium low. If using raw sesame seeds: roast while stirring until golden. If using toasted sesame seeds: toast while stirring for 1-2 minutes until warm and fragrant.
Pour sesame seeds into the mortar and use pestle to crush. The sesame seeds are ready when you stop hearing popping noises when crushing with the pestle. Pour into the same bowl with the crushed peanuts.
Add sea salt into the pan and toast for about 1 minute.
Pour sea salt into the mortar and briefly crush with pestle.
Add a bit of salt at a time to the peanut-sesame mixture. Mix well, taste, and add more salt to taste. Store in an airtight jar for 1 month.
Once the rice ball has completely cooled, cut into 1cm-thick slices.
To serve: pour some sesame-peanut salt into a small bowl. Serve the rice and salt along side sliced Vietnamese sausage and/or pork floss if desired.