I bought this amazing cookery book in Phnom Pehn , Cambodia in June 2017
Every vacation I have a cookery lesson and then I buy a cookery book from that country. Cambodia is unusual in that I had two cookery lessons in 2017 and 2019 and bought two cookery books! This month I have been cooking all the dishes and teaching my friends how to prepare Pork Terrine, Khmer Curry Paste, Pickled vegetables, Shrimp fritters, Fish Cakes with chives and lime leaves, Pomelo and Shrimp Salad, Marinated Beef Salad with Lemongrass and chicken curry amongst others.
Julios cooks the Cambodian Fishcakes
Many of you will have tasted Chinese food, or been for an Italian Pizza. The fame of Phillipino dishes such as Sinigang and Adobo has spread around the world as OFW's cook their favourite foods wherever they work. However Cambodia is an unknown territory for most of us.
Panha Rae at Jay's Diner in Phnom Pehn
I first fell in love with Cambodia in 2016 when I first visited the capitol, Phnom Pehn and met Panha Rae. I returned in 2017 and we went to Sihanoukville and stayed at the amazing White Boutique hotel( White Boutique Hotel and residencesscambodia.com/ and then took a boat for a couple of days on Koh Rong Island. I returned in 2019 to visit Siem Reap and Angkor Watt. That is when I had my first cookery lesson at Sarai Resort and Spa with Chef Nakhon. ( https://www.sarairesort.com/)
My first Cambodian Cookery Lesson at Sarai resort and Spa, Siem Reip
I always remember seeing the staff setting up a big table, fans, umbrellas and stove in the courtyard at the front of the hotel and wondering what it was for. Then I realised it was for my cookery lesson! We tried the various dishes as the guests came and went, and asked of we were filming for Master Chef Cambodia!
Most of the Khmer dishes use one of these ingredients
One of the dishes I learnt was the Amok or Cambodian fish curry. It is so delicious and mild- and is served in a banana leaf. Cambodian cuisine uses a lot of Galangal and Tamarind, Shallots and Lemongrass. After my cookery lesson, and eating what I made in the Goat Tree Restaurant I went to their spa for a Lemongrass massage! Then that night I headed out to Pub Street ( the Cambodian equivalent of Walking street in Pattaya) with Ch Hai.
Ch Hai who visited Sarai for lunch and then took me down Pub street in the evening
One of the tastiest dishes we had last week was the Pork Terrine. You cook the fat of the Pork and then add it to some Pork tenderloin, shoulder and Liver ( all chopped) and then add garlic, lemongrass and sesame seeds. You then place it all on a food processor and place it in a loaf tin and cook in the coven for 90 mins. While that is cooking you mix carrot, radish cucumber and garlic with coriander and chili and pour over heated vinegar, sugar and salt and pickle the veg in the fridge overnight. Finally you buy a fresh baguette ( not a stale one that we mistakenly got from Puerto Deli) and cut it in 4 and then cut each piece in half and slice the terrine and serve it with the pickled veg and cucumber- very tasty!
My first Pork terrine
On one of my trips to Phnom Phen I was invited to a night club by a friend who was a waiter there . He managed to get me in the VIP suite where I had dinner and an ice bucket of Angkor beer ( in the days when I drank) and watched the live band. The next day Chin Meng Jam came with me to the Killing fields, which he had never visited, to take in the horrors of the Genocide by the Khmer Rouge.
Chin Meng Jan who looked after me in the VIP suite
Cambodian food is a thousand year old tradition - the recipes were passed down from mother to daughter in the Kingdom of Angkor. Cambodian cuisine was enriched and expanded by the many countries that had influence there over the centuries. China introduced steaming and the use of Soy and Noodles. India introduced curries and the french Frogs legs! So it is that you have a wide range of dishes including salty and sweet, bitter and sour, to create a deliciously harmonious and original result.
The shrimp with black pepper and cilantro ( Coriander) was one of our favourites
On my final visit to Cambodia I met a guy called Sovarth who went to college in the UK and he helped me out when I ran out of money ( one of my flights was cancelled in error and I had to pay cash to get from Bangkok to Siem Reip so ran out of money on my last day in Phnom Pehn)
Special thanks to Sovarth for helping me out
Well I hope you have enjoyed my walk down memory lane and are tempted to try making or tasting some Cambodian food. The recipe book I bought helps raise funds for the Sala Bai Cooking school which was founded in 2002 to give 100 underprivileged kids each year learn the skills to become a waiter, receptionist chef or Housekeeper- a subject close to my heart having started in the hotel industry age 16.If you would like to read more about my trips to Cambodia you can read these blogs:
Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
No comments:
Post a Comment