Battambang – Recipes
Here are a few recipes from my cooking class. I’d really urge you to try them, they were veh, veh easy and scrumptious at the same time.
If you are observant you will notice that the first recipe, Amok (the national dish of Cambodia) has coconut in it, so I haven’t tried this. However, I know that some of you are wierdos who like coconut, and so I offer this up for your eating pleasure. Enjoy! (You freak).
Fish Amok
NB For fish, you could also substitute chicken, pork or beef (sliced very thinly), tofu, or just vegetables.
1 tablespoon MSG (optional – but you gotta love a recipe that starts with MSG)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon shrimp paste
150g fish, sliced
200g ground coconut mixed with water (or a can of coconut milk)
50g bamboo shoot – sliced into 1 inch pieces
50g green beans, sliced into 1 inch pieces
1/2 aubergine (egg plant for my transatlantic readers – but don’t get me started on the name)
1 tablespoon curry paste (we made ours – see below – but you could probably use Thai red curry paste if you couldn’t be faffed)
1 tablespoon roasted and crushed peanuts
5 kaffir lime leaves – thinly sliced
1/2 onion
50g mushrooms
For the curry paste, grind up:
20g lemongrass – thin slices
3 thin slices of ginger
2 thick slices of turmeric
8 kaffir lime leaves – thin slices
7 cloves of garlic – crushed
2-4 dried red chillies, de-seeded and sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 small green chillies
Bash it in a pestle and mortar until it’s a smooth paste. This will give you a cardio workout at the same time, so everyone’s a winner.
Put the coconut milk in a wok and bring it to the boil, add the curry paste, shrimp paste, and fry gently for 20 seconds. Then add the fish and vegetables and cook for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. For a dry Amok, cook until the coconut milk is gone. Serve with peanut and kaffir lime leaves as a garnish.
Chicken Lok Lak
These ingredients serve 1, so multiply up as you wish.
150g chicken breast – sliced
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon MSG
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
4 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon chilli sauce
1 teaspoon crushed black pepper
10 (ten, not a typo!) cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
50g green beans cut into 1 inch pieces
1 small tomato, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
salad to garnish
For the pepper sauce:
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon MSG
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
2 teaspoons hot water
Mix the chicken with the oyster sauce, tom ketch, pepper, sugar and MSG and leave it to marinate. Put the oil into a wok or a pan over a high heat. Add the garlic to fry until it turns slightly brown. Then add the chicken and vegetables and fry for 2 minutes. Add the chilli sauce and cook for a few seconds. Turn off the heat. Serve it with the vegetables and, if you like, serve it with a fried egg on top.
You can use beef or pork instead of chicken. The ingredients need to be mixed at least 2 minutes before you fry them.
Beef with ginger
120g ginger, fried until it’s slightly brown
120g beef, thinly sliced
*1 tablespoon oyster sauce
*1 tablespoon soy sauce
*1/2 tablespoon sugar
*1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
4 tablespoons oil
2 spring onions, chopped
1 tablespoon MSG
Marinate the beef with the ingredients marked *. Put the oil into a wok, add the garlic and fry until it’s brown. Add the beef and cook for three minutes, add the ginger and stir fry again. Add the chilli sauce, garnish with the spring onions.
Tags: Cambodia, Recipes, Travel
Suzanne
Thanks for the recipes Suze. All our local supermarkets are going to have to stock up on MSG in preparation for the sudden increase in demand.
Love and miss you lots.
Mum