Cơm Tấm (Broken Rice with Grilled Pork)

Pound the lemongrass, garlic and shallots into a rough paste, then mix with 3 tbsp fish sauce, 3 tbsp sugar, the dark soy, pepper and 1 tbsp oil. Rub it into the chops and leave them at least 2 hours, or overnight.

💡 Pounding beats chopping here. Bruised lemongrass releases oils that a knife just cuts through, and the marinade smells completely different.

Pickle the carrot and daikon in the vinegar with 2 tbsp sugar and a pinch of salt for 30 minutes, squeezing them once with your hands to help them soften.

Rinse the broken rice gently twice — no more — and cook it with slightly less water than usual, about 1.2 parts water to 1 part rice. Let it rest 10 minutes off the heat.

💡 Broken grains have far more exposed starch than whole ones. Scrub them like normal rice and you wash away the very softness you bought them for.

Make the scallion oil: heat 3 tbsp oil until shimmering and pour it over the sliced spring onion with a pinch of salt. Mix the dipping sauce from the remaining fish sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, the lime juice, garlic, chilli and 150 ml warm water.

Grill the chops over charcoal or in a very hot ridged pan, 4 to 5 minutes a side, brushing with honey for the last minute. Rest them 5 minutes before slicing.

💡 The sugar in the marinade will catch and blacken in spots. That is what it is supposed to do — pull it when the char is patchy, not when it is uniform.

Plate a mound of rice, spoon scallion oil over it, lay the chop alongside, and add the pickles, cucumber and tomato. Serve the fish sauce in a small bowl — most people tip the whole thing over the rice.