Cambodian Agriculture and More

I thought that it would be nice to do a blog post on the various produce found in Cambodia. I have written briefly on this in previous blogs, however, I thought I would devote more time to it here.

Rice is Cambodia’s number one crop and produce. I always enjoyed driving down the country roads and seeing all the green rice fields. It is a beautiful site. Much more than that, it is the majority of Cambodian people’s livelihood. I had the privilege several times to walk through the rice paddies. It is, of course, very muddy, but also the rice paddies are home to all sorts of critters such as crabs, red ants, and snakes.

Fish is also a big food produce in Cambodia. There are many rivers and lakes from which to catch fish. Fish is also relatively cheap in Cambodia, especially in comparison to beef products, which a lot of Cambodians can’t afford. Also many Cambodians have access to these rivers and lakes and can therefore fish on their own without having to pay for it.

Fresh fruit is also very abundant in Cambodia. I did write a blog post before on the various fruits found in Cambodia. Their fruits are also largely organic and taste much better than the same produce found in America. (No, I am not lying. It took me five years before I would eat a banana in the States because they tasted of chemicals.) In most places I lived, we had fruit trees and it was always a treat to go out and pick fresh fruit for a snack or dessert.

Other honorable mentions are corn, soybeans, sweet potatoes (as well as a large variety of other potatoes), sesame seeds, and a large variety of dry beans.

Ok, I know this is not a food, but this animal does a lot to help the farmers of Cambodia out, so I thought I would mention these helpful creatures. Cambodia is also home to a lot of  water buffalo. No, they do not really eat them that much. Water buffalo are used to help with crops, since most Cambodian farmers have no access to machinery. It was always so cute seeing even little kids riding on top of the water buffalo.

Tapioca- Banana Pudding

What is a food blog without some tasty desserts?

Tapioca- Banana Pudding is one of the most common desserts in Cambodia. It is a great treat for after meals and it tastes wonderful!

There are, as with any recipes different ways to make this. Some Cambodians prefer the pudding to be thick, others prefer to add in more coconut milk at the end. I will leave that up to your discretion.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup small pearl tapioca
• 7 cups water, divided
• 5 ripe bananas, sliced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup coconut milk

Directions:

• Heat 2 cups of water in a microwave- safe dish and heat until warm, about 2 minutes. Add the tapioca and wait for 10 minutes before draining it.
• Pour the rest of the water into a saucepan and add the drained tapioca. Bring it to boil, then let it simmer over medium heat until the tapioca begins to turn transparent. Stir it frequently so it won’t stick tot the bottom of the pan.
• When the tapioca is transparent, stir in the bananas, sugar, and salt. Let it simmer for  10 to 15 minutes, still stirring it frequently.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut milk until it is well blended. The tapioca pearls will become visible and the pudding should have the same consistency as thick soup.
• You can add more sugar after tasting it.
• You can serve it at room temperature or warm. I would suggest not to serve it cold. (It tastes better warm!)
• 

Enjoy this wholesome comfort food!

 

 

 

 

Cambodian Beef Jerky

The first time I ever had beef jerky was when my one of my Cambodian best friends, Chhay, made it for me. He is one of the best cooks I know! Chhay introduced me to a lot of Cambodian food before I knew my family would one day move there. Well, this was the first thing he gave me to try. It was really a neutral way to start out eating a new food because beef jerky is good with almost any flavoring.

Below is a video of a woman speaking in both Cambodian and English telling you how to make beef jerky.

Some things I want to add in are about the differences about how it is made in Cambodia vs making it with a lot of modern equipment.

In Cambodia, when they make beef jerky, they leave the beef sitting outside in the sun all day. They wake early, mix it, and put the beef strips in little shallow baskets, and put them outside.

There are some problems with this and all end up with the meat not being very clean by the end of the day and not really safe to eat. Therefore, my mother put her foot down about us not eating it. However, what we did when her back was turned, was usually the opposite of what she told us.

To get to the point that we could handle eating food that was not as safe we did have to be exposed to a lot. It involved months of sickness until our bodies adjusted. (It was the same when returning to America.) Even then we took the risk of getting sick. So my advice is, stay away from it in Cambodia, unless you plan on making it yourself in a clean area.

Enjoy the video and the jerky! I promise it’s really awesome!

Pong Tia Khon (Fertilized Duck Eggs)

Many who know Asian culture, know about fertilized duck eggs. They are a major delicacy in many Asian countries, including Cambodia.

I made it many years in Cambodia (six total) without having to eat too many things that made my stomach turn. However, as fate would have it, during the last week we lived there I had to eat a fertilized duck egg.

Let me just school you in common Cambodian courtesy. When someone offers you food or drink, you do not refuse that food or drink unless you are deathly allergic or have a major medical reason. It is just plain, fucking rude to turn down something given to you. Especially when there is a party held for you and they choose fertilized duck eggs because they want to make this party unforgettable. I promise you this, I have never forgotten that night.

To this day, I feel extremely guilty for eating something that looked so much like a baby duck. Well, it was a baby duck that had formed that is what fertilized duck eggs are. In order to be polite I grinned and ate the egg with a lot of sauce and rice because, let’s face it, I didn’t want to see the duck looking back at me.

Needless to say, it was not my thing. However, you may like them. So if you ever get the chance try them out. Or not. I suggest not. Save the baby ducks!

This is a video showing you how to make them, should you desire to do so.

 

Nom Ka Chai (Chive Cakes)

You ever forget this food that you used to just love? Maybe not. Well, I did. While doing research for this blog, I stumbled upon Nom Ka Chai or Chive Cakes. Needless to say, I was so excited! these were one of my favorite snacks in Cambodia.They are simple enough to make and super tasty!

Dough:

• 2 cups rice flour
• 1 3/4 cups tapioca flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tbsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 cups hot water

Chive mix:

• 5 cups of chives and garlic mixed together or of only chives
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. chicken broth powder
• 3 tbsp. oil

You are going to first mix the dough and then mix in the chive mix with the dough. (That is a lot of mixes!) Then you will want to steam them in little cups inside a steam pot for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Take them out of the pot and let them cool. After they cool you will then fry them in oil until they are  a golden brown. They should look like this when you are finished.

Sauce:

• 3 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. vinegar
• 1 tbsp. chili paste
• 3-4 tbsp. hot water

Enjoy!!!!

Top Snack Foods

You can’t have a blog about food and not talk about snacks. Cambodia has a wide variety of snacks that may be a bit different than what Americans are used to. Keep in mind not all of these snacks are made in or are unique to Cambodia, but they are are apart of the Cambodian food culture nonetheless.

Shrimp flavored crackers are a delightful crunchy treat. They are basically potato chip type snacks but with shrimp flavoring. I bought these a lot throughout my childhood and teens. I still get a craving for a bag of them every once in awhile!

Octopus chips were another favorite from my teen years. That is until I learned how to read the packaging and found out what they were. If memory serves me right, they were very tasty and I loved them, but I could not get past that mental image of eating an octopus or anything flavored as such. However, if you are up for exploring flavors and different foods, then this snack may be up your alley.

If mussels are your type of snack, then you are in luck! Mussels are favorite snack among Cambodians. Vendors will walk through the streets carrying large buckets of them on their shoulders. I, myself, am not big on seafood such as mussels, but I have it on good authority that they are awesome.

 

Some other snacks include fresh fruit, bugs (both previously discussed in other blog posts), or small sweet cakes. Of course, there are many other snacks that can be mentioned here, however I will have separate blog posts for them showing you how to make them so you can enjoy your own Cambodian snack fest!

Banh Chev (Cambodian Crepes)

No, this is not a desert. This is very different from how Americans tend to view crepes. Instead of fruit, sugar, powdered sugar, and chocolate, this crepe contains meat and vegetables, and, okay, a tiny bit of sugar.

Bahn Chev was our version of taco night growing up in Cambodia. As long as people kept eating the food, my stepmom kept making them. (Until we ran out of ingredients that is. Which happened a lot with this meal.)

I found a video that shows how to make these. The video includes the ingredients that you need. I love this video because it makes the recipe seem simple, and it is very close to how we cooked them. Also the lady talks in both Cambodian and English. So you may be able to pick up some words!

The only thing not in this video is the recipe for the dipping sauce, so here it is.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup soy sauce (or fish sauce)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup lemon or lime juice
• About 1 cup sugar to taste
• Chopped garlic and green onions
• Crushed peanuts (not needed if you are allergic)
• Chili peppers (if you like it spicy)

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together.

This is a fun, colorful finger food, that I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

 

Amok

Amok is probably my second favorite Khmer meal. It is very similar to curry. A lot of times amok will be served at weddings, funerals, or any other large gatherings, as a little goes a long way.

Amok, like curry, can be adapted to fit your tastes. If you want fish, tofu, or spinach or anything else added, you can do so. I use chicken because I don’t like fish, but fish amok is actually more popular in Cambodia than the chicken amok. This is a dish you can just really have fun with and experiment on.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts (chopped in squares)
  A handful of green beans (or snow peas)
  1 can of coconut milk
  A red or green pepper
• Fresh ginger (at least a few spoons worth)
  3-4 cloves of garlic
  1-2 chilis, depending how hot you like it. You could use hot sauce instead
  1 purple onion (or shallots)
  At least 6 lime leaves
  1-2 stalks of lemongrass
  1 spoon of turmeric
  1/4 cup of palm sugar -if you use the pressed cubes, add just 2
  A dash of oil
  A dash of soy sauce or a spoon of salt

Directions:

• Chop up all the bottom half of the ingredients and then put them in a blender together to create a paste.
• Cook the chicken, green beans, and peppers. Add in the paste, and after that slowly add in the coconut milk. Let it simmer and blend in together.
• This is an option, but not necessary. Adding a bit of sugar, gives this dish a sweeter twist and makes it even better.

This can be served over jasmine rice or eaten with bread. If you want to get really fancy, you can serve this dish inside a coconut. It makes eating it really fun! Plus you get pieces of coconut in with the soup. Yummy!

I found this recipe on: http://snapme.ca/cooking-with-snap-cambodian-chicken-amok/

Curry

My second to favorite dish in Cambodia is curry. I can’t begin to tell you how much I LOVE this dish. Curry is to me what chicken noodle soup is to most other Americans. My mom’s friend, whom I called Yay (grandmother), made this dish for us a lot over the years. Most of the dishes Yay made were amazing.

Curry can be made several different ways, as you may be well aware of. In Cambodia you can make chicken curry, fish curry, or vegetable curry. That curry could even be red, green, or yellow. (We usually at yellow, but they all taste good.) If you want to make an authentic Cambodian chicken or fish curry, you would then spare nothing, and when I say spare nothing that means you would eat everything- feet, head, eyes, insides, and, well, everything. That is where I drew the line. Yay would make a revised version for us weak stomached Americans.

This recipe is one that I have found to be the most similar to what I had in Cambodia. (I must have cooked over 20 curries, before I was satisfied with this recipe.) As I said before, curry is not something that you have to strictly follow the recipe on. Experiment with it.

Ingredients (however much you want to make is how much you should buy):

• Chicken- cubed
• Potatoes- cubed
• Green beans
• Garlic
• Curry- Thai Kitchen Curry  red medium sauce is best.
• Coconut Milk- canned
• 2% or whole milk- helps to cut down on the spice if that is not your thing

Now in Cambodia, this dish would literally take all day to make, since they do everything from scratch, however, we have other options in America known as canned foods that help move the process along.

Directions:

• Cook the chicken and the garlic together.
• In a pot, put in the chicken, and add the curry sauce.
• After adding the curry, then add the coconut milk and whole milk, if desired.
• Add the potatoes to the pot and let them cook.
• After everything is close to ready, add the green beans so they do not get mushy.

This dish can be served over jasmine rice, or with french bread.

Optinal:

• Carrots added with the potatoes
• Peanuts chopped up and added into the curry.

Curry may not be the fastest of meals to make, but it certainly is one of the more delicious meals to have.

 

 

 

Mahope Luen (Fast Food)

This is something that has changed very much since I have been to Cambodia last. At the time when I was there, about 10 years ago, there was really only one major fast food place in the country. Now there are several different fast food chains to choose from on a night out.

We will start with the single fast food chain that was in Cambodia back in the good old days- Lucky Burger. This is the one place we used to go to to get Americanish fast food. I say Americanish because it really wasn’t exactly the same. Sure you could get a burger, or chicken nuggets, but you could also order chicken feet, or taro ( a type of potato) ice cream. My favorite was chicken nuggets with sweet Thai dipping sauce and a green Fanta drink. Sadly, Lucky Burger went out of business shortly after the American fast food chains moved in.

 

On the day we left Cambodia a major fast food chain moved in. Seriously. Day. Of. The Dairy Queen franchise first opened in the airport at Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. It literally opened like two hours after we left. Damn! The menu for Dairy Queen is basically the same. They serve hot dogs and blizzards. Their blizzards offered to tend to be more centered around fruit and green tea, which are popular in Cambodia.

Burger King has also opened a few franchises in the capital city. There is not much here that deviates from American Burger Kings. However, they do sell Ankor Beer so that is something that we do not, yet, have available in America in our Burger Kings.

The next major fast food chain is KFC. KFC also has the same options, however, they do give the customer the option of choosing rice along with fresh vegetables such as cucumbers and carrots (both not cooked.) As you may well know rice is a staple in Cambodia and they tend to eat their food paired with some type of fresh vegetable. Also enjoy this ad for KFC in Cambodia.

Some other food chains that have made a splash in Cambodia are Carl’s Jr., Cold Stone, and Sub Works- the Cambodian version of Subway.

As was mentioned earlier fast food chains tend to pop up in the capital city of Cambodia as a result of wanting to meet the needs of tourists who for some odd reason don’t want to try new foods. Hmmm. Anyways. At least you now know that if you ever end up in Cambodia, there are Americanized places for you to eat.