Khmer Cuisine

DISCLAIMER: I may be a decent cook but I don't hold a candle to my Aunt Karen and her crazy life from NYC to Bali. For delicious recipes with snappy commentary check her out at kitcheninsurgency.com (voted one of the best food blogs of 2012!). Shameless plug? You'll thank me later. Moving on...

After eight months in Southeast Asia, I typically follow a one-Asian-meal-per-day rule. There's only so much rice a California native can handle. Plus some of us really do crave salad. And cheese. And chocolate.

But an old friend came to visit, and I have been meaning to try this Khmer cooking class. As much as I've been known to gripe, the food here is actually pretty damn good. Especially after my stint in the Philippines.

So Kelly and I show up at the small restaurant/classroom to see that we are the only students on this dreary Saturday afternoon - excellent. Our instructor, Samann, tell us to pick out whichever starter and main dish we'd like to prepare. I don't even look at the menu. Fresh shrimp spring rolls and chicken amok. Oh, we get to choose a dessert, too? Don't need to ask me twice. Black sticky rice with fresh mango, please and thank you.

Grinding up roots for amok

After visiting the market, we begin our tutorial. Coconut milk, fish oil and chili pepper are mixed with fresh vegetable and meats. Butter is rare, instead they use palm sugar to oil pans and thicken sauces. We chop and mash up roots to add flavor and color. Samann effortlessly demonstrates the proper way to slice and dice the different ingredients. She apparently has no formal training, she learned to cook from her mother. I am thoroughly impressed. We even get a bit crafty, learning how to make banana leaf boxes and plate decorations.

The smell of the amok seasoning is intoxicating and I'm about to start drooling. A stoner could not be more excited about a perfectly rolled joint as we are about these spring rolls. And the mangoes are just so beautifully orange. The gluttony begins.

Spring rolling

An hour later we dragged ourselves out of the school, $13 poorer, several pounds heavier and perhaps a dash more culinarily-inclined. If you haven't tried amok (which I highly doubt you have), it is like a spicy coconut-lemongrass curry. Heavenly. To be fair, it's traditionally prepared with fish, but I prefer the chicken variant.

And with that, I leave you with mouth-watering photos of our creations and the recipes to create your own dishes. Bon appetit (and bonne chance!)

Proof modern-day women can still cook

AMOK CHICKEN (2 servings)

2 pcs ngor leaves or broccoli leaves - cut thin                                      Amok Paste:

3.5 oz oyster mushroom - pick thin                                                      1 lemongrass - cut thin

1/4 onion - diced                                                                                  1 turmerice - cut thin

2 tbsp amok paste                                                                                  2 finger root - cut thin

7 oz chicken - finely sliced                                                                   1 shallot - chopped

3 tbsp swiss chard leave - sliced                                                             2 cloves of garlic - chopped

4 tbsp coconut milk 

1 tsp sugar 

a pinch of salt

1 tsp fish sauce

Pound together the lemon grass, turmerice and finger root with a pestle and mortar. Then add other ingredients for the amok paste until it has the consistency of orange paste.

Heat the coconut milk in a pan and add amok paste, sugar, and fish sauce, frying until just brown. Then add the chicken, mushrooms, onion, ngor leave, 1 ladle of coconut milk, ½ spoon of chicken powder, 1 spoon of fish sauce. Continue to cook at medium heat until chicken is cooked thoroughly. 

Serve hot with steamed white rice. 

FRESH SPRING ROLLS WITH SHRIMP (4 large spring rolls)

2 long bean - cut to length of cucumber  (12 string beans)                   Dressing Sauce:

1 carrot - peel the skin cut thin and long                                               1 shallot - chopped

1 cucumber - peel and cut 6 thin and long slices                                   2 cloves of garlic - chopped

1 oz fresh sweet basil                                                                              1 cilendral root - chopped

handful of bean sprouts                                                                          1/2 sweet chili - chopped

4 pieces of lettuce - cut to length of cucumber                                     1/2 lemon juice

3 oz medium-sized shrimp                                                                     

rice noodles (optional)

1 tbsp of olive oil                                                                                   

2 cloves garlic - chopped                                                                           

1/2 tbsp brown sugar    

1 tbsp oyster oyster sauce                                                                            

1/4 cup water

4 pieces of circular rice paper

Steam cook the long beans and cucumber in boil water 1 minute. Then add the carrot and sprout bean to steam cook for another minute. Let the vegetables cool on a dry plate. 

Heat olive oil, garlic, and brown sugar in a frying pan and gently cook until the garlic is golden brown. Then add shrimp, water and oyster sauce. Fry for 3-5 minutes or until shrimp are opaque and pinkish-orange.

Dip a piece of the rice paper into water, until it is saturated. Then lay it down on a clean board and fold the left side over on itself 1 inch. Then start laying out the vegetables on the side just in front of you along the folded edge - 1 bean, a piece of lettuce, 1 piece of cucumber, some sprouts, carrots, basil, rice noodles. Then line up 3 shrimp. Roll the ingredients up starting with the side closest to you. Once you have made one rotation, fold the leftover paper back onto the spring roll and continue to wrap.

Serve with dressing sauce.

BLACK STICKY RICE WITH MANGO (4-6 servings)

2 cups sticky black rice

2 1/2 cups coconut milk

1 cup palm sugar (brown sugar as substitute)

1/2 tsp salt

2 ripened mangos - peeled and sliced

Rinse the sticky rice and steam until tender and water has been absorbed.

In a separate heavy pot, heat coconut milk over medium heat. Do not boil. Add sugar and salt and stir for about 5 minutes, until it has dissolved. Removing pot from heat, pour half of the coconut sauce on top of the rice and cover, allowing the rice to absorb the sauce for 10-15 minutes.

Serve warm on individual plates with mango, drizzling remaining sauce on top.