A taste of Khmer cuisine

I had booked a cooking class for this morning to learn how to prepare a typical Khmer (Cambodian) dish. Classes are organised by the staff of Frizz, a restaurant that I dined at last night. I arrived at Frizz at 9am and joined a group of five other people. From here we were taken by tuk-tuk to an outdoor food market to pick up the ingredients for the class, and to be given an introduction to the basic ingredients used in Khmer cooking. The market was filled with smells, some pleasant and others not so. Live fish squirmed around on metal trays and every part of a pig was on display for sale. The heat made it uncomfortable, but I was told that the smells would be far worse in the afternoon as the produce had been sat in the heat all day.

We didn't return to the restaurant, but to the site of the cooking school, a beautiful rooftop terrace that we reached by walking down an alley and up the tight staircase of a small building. It was a half-day class and we were preparing two dishes; spring rolls and amok, a classic Cambodian fish curry. I had enjoyed this dish a few times in Phnom Penh, including at Frizz restaurant last night, so I knew I would be making amok to the same recipe as the one I ate last night- a good way to measure how well I'd done!

Firstly, we made the spring rolls together. This involved a lot of preparation of the taro root, the principle ingredient in the filling. Taro root is a pale-coloured root vegetable that is 'tickly' on the throat and stomach if eaten without preparation. It was shredded, mixed with salt and squeezed thoroughly to bring the starch out, and then washed. The prepared taro root was added to grated carrot and peanuts, and seasoned. Then the mix was shaped into spring-roll shapes and rolled into rice paper, before being deep-fried for around seven minutes. Tasting them, I was a bit disappointed. The taro root became a flavourless mash when cooked, and although the flavouring was very nice, it could have done with some more ingredients in the filling, such as beansprouts or cabbage, to add some crunch and colour. Similarly, the shell was not crispy enough for my liking, perhaps because of the type of rice paper used, which was quite thick, or because they were deep-fried instead of shallow-fried. In all, they were a bit too stodgy. However, the accompanying sweet-and-sour sauce that we also prepared was very nice. It was a mix of two spoons of sugar, six of fish sauce, the juice of three limes and a spoonful each of finely chopped chilli and shallot. Very simple to prepare, but with a lovely fresh, sour and spicy taste.

The main course was much better. To begin with, we were each given a pestle and mortar to crush a slice of kaffir lime rind, lemongrass, chilli, garlic, tamarind and galangal. This was hard work. Next, a spoonful of chilli paste was added. In a seperate bowl we mixed fish sauce, sugar palm syrup, peanuts, kaffir lime leaves and, most importantly, coconut milk. This was added to the paste, along with a handful of sliced raw tiger-fish. The curry was cooked and served in a banana leaf basket, made from two circular pieces of banana leaf that had been steamed to soften and then pinned into a cup shape with toothpicks. The amok was poured into this basket, and cooked by floating in a covered pan of boiling water for fifteen minutes. When the amok was ready, it was garnished with a spoonful of coconut cream and strips of kaffir lime leaf and chilli. We sat down to eat our meals with some rice, and it was really delicious.

Slightly wonky but  I am still very proud!

At the end of the session we were given a booklet of recipes which outlined the main ingredients of Khmer cooking: prahok, a preserved fish paste, lemongrass, palm sugar, galangal, a root similar to ginger, tamarind and kaffir lime and leaves. I have really enjoyed the Khmer cuisine I have sampled so far, and would recommend this amok recipe to anybody who has the ingredients available to them. As the recipe given in the booklet is slightly different to the one we followed, I have had to describe the recipe as best as I can remember from the class and I think it is fairly accurate.

In the afternoon I went for a walk to Wat Pnhom, a hilltop Buddhist temple which was built in 1373. The name translates as 'temple of the mountains', but the 'mountain' is really a measly 27m man-made hill, so it was a very easy climb to the 'summit'. The altar inside the small main temple was dazzling. A large gold Buddha was surrounded by dozens of smaller ones, flowers, incense and candles. I walked around the hill, which was a small island park that served as a roundabout. People were having their toenails clipped and two monkeys were sat in a cage. It was a strange little place but there was not a lot to see so I moved on. I thought about going to see the National Library, but when I couldn't find it easily I headed back in the general direction, or so I thought, of my hotel. I found myself on a main road parallel to the one I should be on, so I went up a street hoping to get back on track again. But this street took me into a little neighbourhood with a dusty track and kids playing on bikes. It suddenly looked as though I were in one of the villages I passed through on the way to Choeng Ek yesterday. After walking quickly and nervously for a while through several of these endless streets I decided it would be best to accept a moto ride back to the hotel. It turned out I had been walking in completely the wrong direction, as we passed Wat Pnhom and continued on the other side. A lot of the time I have an excellent sense of navigation and can wander in the right direction until I find my destination. Other times I am overconfident and get it all wrong.

In the evening I had a delicious meal at an Indian restaurant on the riverside. I will be returning to Saigon by bus tomorrow and I'll be sorry to leave Phnom Penh. I've really enjoyed my time here- the friendliness of everyone I have met, the brilliant food, the relaxed and cheery atmosphere of the city and the beautiful sights such as the Royal Palace. It's made me keen to learn more about the fascinating history of Cambodia, and I hope in future trips I can start to get a better insight into Cambodian culture, including how the hideous recent past still lingers in the modern day.