For Better Rice, Serve It the Vietnamese Way

Growing up, I spent many childhood summers with Ah Ma, my paternal grandmother, in Montreal. I was always a bit too chatty as a kid, so she taught me origami and how to cook to occupy my attention (and give her some peace and quiet).

I loved eating everything she made, from her pâté chaud (or Vietnamese pastry pie) and mooncakes to her mushroom chicken and summer rolls. Sometimes, however, I just didn’t have an appetite for all the Vietnamese food the adults enjoyed. I especially didn’t like to eat white rice, which was a constant at every dinner. Looking back now, it’s the one thing I miss most—her rice was the best.

How My Grandmother Made Amazing White Rice

To whet my palate, Ah Ma would add a butter cube (about a tablespoon) to a freshly cooked rice bowl, treating the rice like a baked potato. The butter would melt into a little golden puddle above the rice. I would stir the melted butter into the rice and eat down the bowl to the last buttery grain. Ah Ma used unsalted butter, but if you try this, feel free to use salted butter to give the rice a pop of salinity.

When you slowly savor rice, the grains reveal a subtle sweetness that the butter enhances. The fat and creaminess of the butter also add a luxurious and comforting layer to rice, which is typically a vessel for sauces and gravies or a side dish (and thought) to mains. With the addition of some butter, steamed white rice becomes a star.

While developing and curating recipes for my second cookbook, Modern Asian Kitchen, I discovered that other Vietnamese grandmothers add butter to rice. It’s likely a French-inspired hack from when the French occupied Vietnam and introduced butter and other dairy products into Vietnamese cooking. Sometimes, you’d also find fish sauce or soy sauce mixed into the butter, then added to the rice for more flavor. My friend, Tres Truong, graciously shared her Vietnamese grandmother’s (or Ma Ma’s) fish sauce butter recipe, which I included in my cookbook.

Ma Ma’s Fish Sauce Butter 

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce, adjust to taste
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced 

Brown the butter, then mix in the rest of the ingredients. Serve immediately over rice, mashed potatoes, or baked potatoes (and even toast!). Store leftover fish sauce butter in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

While testing this recipe, I remembered how Ah Ma would sometimes add drops of Maggi or Kikkoman soy sauce to my buttered rice. The rice was rich, buttery, umami-laden, and as a child, I craved that rice more than I craved fast food.

Now, as I mourn her passing on November 9, 2024, my memories and her food hacks and recipes are my everlasting connection to her. She’d always tell me to finish every grain of rice, reciting the famous Chinese poem in Cantonese, “Tilling the earth in the midday sun, sweat drips down and seeds the soil. Who knew that each grain of rice on your plate comes from a farmer’s toil?”

悯农
李绅

锄禾日当午，
汗滴禾下土。
谁知盘中餐，
粒粒皆幸苦。

When she added butter to my rice and a touch of Maggi, I savored each grain, never leaving a single one behind. Today, I pass this tradition on to my son, ensuring Ah Ma’s love and wisdom live on through every bite and grain of rice.