CƠM HẾN

The birthplace of cơm hến is Cồn Hến, an island on the Hương River running through Huế City.

Cơm hến is a combination of steamed rice with baby clams which has been the specialty of Huế in Thừa Thiên-Huế Province, Vietnam.

The dish offers sweet, buttery, salty, sour, bitter, and extremely peppery-hot tastes all at once. Cơm hến is made from crunchy cold rice, baby clams, some crispy fried pork fat, little roasted peanuts, a little chili pepper, some minced banana flower, some bean sprouts, some fresh star fruit pieces, a little mint herb, and some fermented shrimp sauce. Cơm hến is usually served with the most indispensable ingredient that is clam broth. The most interesting thing when having Cơm hến is the special combination of cold rice and the hot clam broth.

The combination of fruits and vegetables creates fresh and crispy flavors for Cơm hến that help to ease the hot of the summer as well as help you feel warmer with some clam broth in winter. Local people love to add more black pepper and some crispy bánh đa pieces(sesame rice crackers) when having Cơm hến.