Vietnamese Red Rice Cake

Name: Vietnamese Red rice cake with herbs
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Ingredients: 2½ cups cooked jasmine rice; 50g butter; 1 clove garlic, crushed; 2 tablespoons tomato paste; Salt flakes, to taste; Handful Asian herbs, sliced

Every rice-centred cuisine has a version of fried rice to use up leftover cooked rice. In Vietnam it’s tomato rice, cơm đỏ, which is best made with cooked rice that’s been refrigerated overnight. I sometimes take Vietnamese red rice a step further and turn it into a crisp rice cake that I top with leftover sprigs of Asian herbs. Crisp or plain, I love it with perilla, Vietnamese mint and Thai basil, but you could use coriander, regular mint, holy basil, rice paddy herb or whatever you have on hand. Served with some cucumber and lettuce leaves – and maybe a few slices of char siu leftover from making spring rolls – Vietnamese red rice goes from being a side dish to a complete meal. Enjoy tomato rice with a glass of Domaine Naturaliste Discovery chardonnay, a fresh, easy-drinking chardonnay with a little lees contact for complexity and a lovely crisp finish to balance the butter. Add some Vietnamese pickles on the side too if you like (see video below).

Serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients

2½ cups cooked jasmine rice (460g/1lb)
50g butter ( 1¾oz)
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste (40ml/45g)
Salt flakes, to taste
Handful Asian herbs, sliced

Method

Put rice into a large bowl and use wet hands to break it up.
Melt butter in a wok or frying pan over medium heat.
Add garlic and cook for a minute or so, until fragrant.
Add rice, increase heat and stir to coat well.
Add tomato paste and keep stirring until it’s evenly distributed.
Taste and add salt. Serve red rice now, or continue cooking to turn it into a crisp red rice cake.
Press down to form a flat cake. Reduce heat to low and continue frying for 10-15 minutes, until the base is crisp and well coloured.
Loosen the edges of the cake with a spatula, place a plate over the frying pan and invert cake onto the plate.
Scatter herbs over the top of the Vietnamese red rice cake and serve.