Red Rice

[chef koo]

i was watching an episode of iron chef and one guy used red rice to make a dark red colored broth. anyone know what kind of red rice he was using?

[little ms foodie]

we buy red rice and cook it in butter, it is awesome! it just says himalyan red rice on the bag - i think ours is from Bobs.

[chef koo]

but if you boiled it in a large amount of water would you end up with a redish colored broth?

[ImportFood]

i was watching an episode of iron chef and one guy used red rice to make a dark red colored broth. anyone know what kind of red rice he was using?

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I did not see the episode but it might have been "red cargo rice". There are a few varieties of rice grown in Thailand that create colored water broth. There is a nice variety called Sinin which is my favorite but it's not exported to US due to the limited crop and extended paperwork required to import specialty rice into this country. You have to buy it when you go there. You can likely Google sinin rice and learn about it, I think it's the superior variety of all unpolished rice varieties because of the sweet velvety taste, and the color is more lavender than red. Aside from sinin rice, one of the next best unpolished rice for flavor is red cargo rice which is at the link below

http://importfood.com/nrct0501.html

[chef koo]

cool thanks. the red rice was used i nthe same way in 2 episodes. the first was in "battle pork belly" with liang shuquing against chen kenichi. the other one was the in "king of iron chefs" where kobe went against chen. the theme was tokyo x pork.

[gfron1]

Lotus Foods also sells a Bhurmese Red which is a favorite in our house - easily found on the net.

[sygyzy]

I was born and raised in a suburb of Los Angeles and for years my family would eat at restaurant named Victory which was a French restaurant owned by Vietnamese. This is not at all unusual given the French occupation. Anyway, their specialty is this Cornish hen with red rice. The hen is delicious but not all that special. I believe it's deep fried because it's extremely crispy in a uniform fashion that roasting would not produce. The best part though is it is paired with the house red rice. For years I have been wondernig how they make it. I read some suggestions it's just ketchup, but I don't think it's that simple. It is not to be confused with Mexican red rice which my roommate easily makes by mixing in salsa. While this may not be authentic, it tastes pretty much the same as I get in Mexican restaurants.

So I wondered what it could be. Then I read about French camargue rice and thought it might be that. But now I am starting to doubt that too.

I cannot search for "red rice" because I come up with too many false positives. I'd suspect the recipe would involve garlic and tomato paste but past that I don't know. The rice also is reminiscent of traditional Chinese or Vietnamese rice. It's not as glutinous as sticky rice, dessert rice, or sushi rice. But it is also not dry like American "Uncle Ben's" rice either.

Any help would be appreciated.

Edited March 5, 2008 by sygyzy (log)

[Prawncrackers]

Are you absolutely sure it isn't Camargue red rice? When i hear red rice in relation to French food i always assume it is this type of rice. I've only just discovered it in the past year or so and i think it's delicious. Here is a monkfish dish i posted around xmas time on the Dinner thread that was served on a bed of Camargue red rice, does it look similar? The taste is incredibly nutty and moreish:

[sygyzy]

Hi, I am not 100% sure, but I am pretty sure it's not Camargue red rice. It's a lighter color than in your pictures. Colorwise, it's between your picture and Mexican red rice.

[mkayahara]

I'd suspect the recipe would involve garlic and tomato paste but past that I don't know.

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I'm really not sure, but this comment made me think of sriracha sauce. Is that a possibility?

As for the texture of the rice, I recently bought some Jasmine rice from a local Vietnamese grocery store, and it's got a texture that's stickier than long-grain, but more separate than short-grain. It also has a slightly floral aroma and a pearlescent appearance.

Then again, it may just be Camargue red rice!

[sygyzy]

Definitely not Sriracha (aka Rooster) sauce. Not spicy at all.

[SuzySushi]

This might be totally off base, but could it be Chamorro-style "red rice" from Guam? The rice is cooked with achiote (annatto) seeds, which turns it a reddish orange. It has a mild flavor. Another "red rice" is the Japanese dish sekihan/osekihan, which is cooked with azuki beans. That comes out a purplish pink.

[sygyzy]

Hi,

Thanks for all th einput. It is definitely not made with azuki (or any other type of) beans. I also don't believe it to be influenced by Guam.

I found a picture for you guys! Click here!

[Doodad]

Looks more like Charleston style or Spanish rice to me.

[Katie Meadow]

You might try asking Andrea Nguyen, the author of "Into the Vietnamese Kitchen." I believe she spent her childhood in southern CA. Either way she's a wealth of information and very generous. Check out her website at vietworldkitchen.com and you will find an email address for her.

[nakji]

Wow, I totally used to eat that in Hanoi. My coworkers used to bring little cakes of it in, wrapped up in banana leaf. They ate it on festival days, I think, maybe the one for the spirit that lives in the hearth? The kitchen goddess? Anyway, I'm hazy on how they made it, but I think SuzySushi is the closest - it was dyed with some sort of seed. I know, because I bit down hard on a bit of it once and almost lost a tooth.

[sygyzy]

Thank you for the suggestion Katie Meadow. I just emailed her with a link!

[austramerica]

My mother and grandmother before her used to cook rice in achiote water. It is actually just like cooking ordinary rice. Then you put in your own flavour ala fried rice if you like...

'Just thought you'd like to know...

austramerica

[lemniscate]

OMG syzygy, I was just this morning thinking about Victory's red rice and the Google search pulled up this thread! I've eaten at Victory 5 or 6 times and though everything I've ordered has been very good, the rice is the most memorable. I can't seem to figure the flavor out either, I taste alot of butter, garlic, and a tomato background. The grains are very separate, not sticky rice, more like long-grain. I see from the Guam style rice that achiote is added, but that's not supposed to add flavor, just color (I think?). If you find a recipe, please, please, hook me up.

[Mark.H]

Hello folks. I also had fond memories of the Victory Restaurant in Los Angeles back in college. 

Here's the answer to your question. It is called: CƠM ĐỎ (VIETNAMESE TOMATO RICE). There are a couple of recipes I found online; most of the recipes seem similar but one of them added a bit of fish sauce and I think it contributed to the acidity, which brings out the savory taste of the tomato sauce and soy sauce. But, if you can't get fish sauce, then skip it. 

Regardless, give it a try and make adjustments. One key point to fried rice is using overnight rice from the fridge. The point is to make the rice not too sticky; the texture should feel that each piece of rice is "on its own" and not clumped together. Happy cooking!

 

Online recipe for reference. 

https://www.recipetineats.com/red-vietnamese-fried-rice/

https://www.wokandkin.com/com-do-vietnamese-tomato-rice/

https://bunbobae.com/vietnamese-red-rice-com-do/

 

[liuzhou]

I live just north of Vietnam and most supermarkets here carry red rice, as do stores in Vietnam. It is just a type of regular long grain rice and can be used in the same manner. It is similar to Camargue red rice. No artificial colouring or tomato involved.

 

Uncooked red rice

 

Here is the cooked rice. Here with pan-fried sea bream and spinach purée.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[Joe Blowe]

I agree with the n00b (for once 😘). It appears to be tomato rice.

[Anna N]

Click

 

It would appear that there are two dishes. The red rice which @liuzhouis familiar with and is not dependent on anything other than the rice itself and tomato rice which appears to be a dish belonging to the Vietnamese diaspora. Sort of like Chinese food and Chinese Canadian food?

Edited January 28, 2023 by Anna N
Typos and other stuff and to add a link (log)

[liuzhou]

7 hours ago, Anna N said:

Click

 

It would appear that there are two dishes. The red rice which @liuzhouis familiar with and is not dependent on anything other than the rice itself and tomato rice which appears to be a dish belonging to the Vietnamese diaspora. Sort of like Chinese food and Chinese Canadian food?

 

That seems likely. I don't know about the chicken, but that description sounds more North American than anything Vietnamese. I've never come across anything called "Cornish hens" in Vietnam.

 

Also, cơm đỏ doesn't mean Vietnamese tomato rice. It simply means 'red rice' as I pictured a couple of posts back.

 

[lemniscate]

I ate at Victory (Monterey Park) several times while it was open.   I do not recall the Cornish hen.   I do recall with great regard the red rice/tomato rice dish.   My memory of it was standard long grain rice with a tomato flavoring, maybe some garlic (maybe some fish sauce?)  and lots of butter.   It was glorious.   A side plate of it was $1.00USD.  I ate it with the escargot dish.   I think they also had an Olivier or Russian mayo heavy salad that I really enjoyed.  

 

They made a tasty steak dish also.

 

There are some photos of the rice on the defunct Yelp page.

 

I think the red rice shall remain a mystery.