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Published: October 10th 2010
Last Tuesday, the 5th of October, Rachel and I did something we have been looking forward to since we planned our round the world trip; we took part in an Asian cooking class. The class obviously concentrated on Khmer cuisine as we were in Cambodia, and it was a morning well spent!
Our legs were aching from the walking at the temple complexes the previous day, but we were eager to get to the Tigre du Papier Restaurant and begin our culinary lessons. First on the menu (geddit?!) was the choosing of our starter and main course. I chose the national dish, Amok for my main and Rachel chose Khmer Chicken. As for starters, I went with mango salad and Rach with Papaya salad. Once these were chosen, we (along with the tutor chef and the other member of the class) walked around the noisy, hot and smelly local market and were given a run down of the kind of ingredients and produce that would be going in our dishes. Some of the sights and smells were familar (carrots, coriander, chicken), some were exotic and exciting (jackfruit, frog and lemongrass) and some were downright smelly and disgusting (fish heads, rotting
fruit and dead animals). Soon our time in the market was over and it was back to the kitchen to get cracking.
All the ingredients for each of our dishes were laid out ready for us when we got back and soon began an hour of chopping, peeling, dicing, slicing and managing to stain our hands dark yellow with the fresh tumeric we had to use! The salad was taking shape and it was ultra difficult not to nibble at the lovely fresh food as we went along. The kitchen was smelling like a lovely mixture of fresh, pungent herbs and spices as we got on with preparing and then cooking our mains. It was great fun to be learning how to cook these delicious dishes by actually doing it rather than just reciting recipes from a book and hoping it all turned out alright.
As the morning passed we were juggling the cooking of our main course and the preparation of the sticky rice dessert as well as finishing off the presentation of our meals by making banana leaf bowls and tomato flowers. Quite fiddly and I think Rachel was better at that than me! Soon enough,
with our stomachs rumbling and the room smelling divine, it was time to serve the meals up and take them downstairs into the restaurant and tuck in. Now, as you well know, I am not one to boast or be bigheaded in anyway, but the food was amazing! Even by my high culinary standards! Cambodian food is light but flavoursome, aromatic and at the same time it has a delicious richness that is very satisfying. Amok with chicken had a really delicious mix of coconut and light spice and the Khmer chicken was dominated by the aromatic taste of the kaffir lime leaves Rachel had used. By the time we were finished, we were absolutely stuffed and quite glad to see Gun at the side of the street ready to ferry us away!
If anyone would like to sample some of our Cambodian cooking then we will happily oblige when we come home (for a small fee of course) and you will be dazzled by the delicious tastes and smell of Cambodian cusine.
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greg
non-member comment
cooking course
wow I'd lve to do that...its something I am promising myself next time I 'travel'.........bet it tasted AWESOME...!!!!!!...FREEZE SOME AND BRING IT BACK........