Khmer cuisine

On to cook today, and discover secrets of Khmer cuisine at the 'Smokin Pot' restaurant. Ate there last night with a French woman I ran into at a temple ... and it was her second meal there in the same day ... thought that was a good sign! I had amok fish ... delicieux!

Some like it hot...

Cooking class Khmer style started at the market with lots of tasty treats to see. We pass on the cockroaches, turtles and catfish. Our teacher, Vannak did a wonderful job of explaining the ingredients available. We bought freshly grated coconut, as well as various herbs and spices. However, we also smelled lots of ingredients, had a good look at others and even tasted a couple of things! As usual, the market was a busy place, and rich in smells and sights. A couple of market women that I photographed were rather shy about it all, and laughed when I showed them the shots!

Back at the restaurant, we set to create a curry paste with mortar and pestle. The dish was Amok Beef. First we chopped all ingredients very finely with a large thick bladed knife - and there was a lesson in chopping each item! The finer you chop, the less pounding later! Fresh chillies, dried chillies, kaffir lime leaves, garlic, galangal, fresh turmeric all went in to the bowl. We ground (or pounded) the ingredients until they formed a soft moist mass. Then the remaining ingredients were chopped (easy part), including finely sliced beef, and diced eggplant.

Did you know that in Cambodia there are 7 varieties of eggplant?!

Wok work came next with coconut milk made from our grated material that was soaked and then strained through a cloth. To this we added the curry paste and gradually all the other components. The cooking part was relatively short. It was the preparation of the paste that took most time and effort. The good news was that as soon as it was made, we ate it! Yum!

Two more dishes followed, including Lok Lak which is a very peppery pork dish, and a spicy chicken dish - the name for which I have forgotten. After each, we ate the product of our labours. The chef tried each dish to and gave his appraisal of our efforts. His advice during the spicy chicken dish, was to use only 3 fresh chillies for medium spiciness. For very spicy he suggested 10 chillies and for Khmer people he proposed 15 chillies. Now it must be noted that these quantities went into servings for ONE, along with 10 cloves of garlic and various other components!

It was a great thing to do, especially to see the techniques used. They start off with the coconut milk in the wok first! Apparently Thai food is spicier that Khmer, and Indian food spicier again ... I have a recipe book and am confident I'll find the ingredients in Footscray. Need to buy a mortar and pestle and I am ready for the so next spicy food party ...

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