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Posts in category Cambodia

Cambodian barbecued stingray at Phnom Penh Central Market

Nov25
2012 Leave a Comment Written by chefshane

Barbecued stingray….. because the cow was gone

Cambodia is one of my favourite countries, and I'm clocking up my tenth visit.
Working in Thailand, it was a convenient and fun place to skip over to for a visa run and a relaxing 2 or 3 day break.

Phnom Penh is the capital, with it's lazy, slow, laid-back pace hovering somewhere between a few decades ago and next week.
Change has come to the city, and buildings are climbing skywards at a rapid pace.
My last visit six months before was 'as normal'. 
This time the skyline had changed with quite a few new buildings and developments trying to claim dominance.
Old habits die hard, and I always like to settle in to Sisowath Quay on the river side. It's a great place to watch the ebb and flow of daily life, with a birds-eye view of the water, people, weather and traffic.

Similarly, one of my favourite foods in Phnom Penh is a chunk of cow.
Literally.
Outside the markets large whole cows used to roast over charcoal and if you got there at the right time, the vendors could normally be talked into carving off a chunk of veal sirloin. It's just delicious, with thick, crisp, crackling skin and rare meat that glistens with a seductive pink sheen.

This trip surprised me with yet another change – the banishing of the streetside veal crematoriums.
Apparently they were offending the monks at the nearby temples and a local regulation was passed banning the grilling of whole cows.
I felt sure that they must still grill them somewhere, perhaps out of sight, so I did a quick search of back alleys and down the maze-like paths that wind through the inner city markets.

It turned out to be a 'veally' poor effort on my part.
I didn't end up finding my beloved charcoal-roasted cow, but I did end up in Central Market around lunch-time, doing a double-take as I passed a trough of glowing charcoal topped with an array of incredibly fresh squid, cuttlefish and stingray.

Squid is a Danang thing and a Krabi thing too. It's the bulk of the local catch in both places where I've lived for the last 4 years, so I bypassed the calamari and sidled up to a couple of lonely looking stingray fillets.

They were cooked to perfection and irresistible, and I hadn't tried stingray in Cambodia before.
In Malaysia I'm a bit of a barbecued stingray addict, and I'm also very fond of the Vietnamese method of barbecued stingray wrapped in la lot leaf (betel leaf).
In Thailand we used to do stingray jungle curry, so light and tasty, and in Australia I'd braise it with apple cider, thyme and rosemary.
It's not hard to sell me stingray, especially if it's really fresh.

The Europeans kick it up a notch, turning stingray into a fine dining dish.
Over there it's called skate and commands a high price due to the demand. The French tend to keep it simple, serving with capers and 'beurre noir' or 'black butter'. It's popular steamed, braised and pan-fried, whereas in Asia, a charcoal barbecue is the 'go to' method for ray fillets.

bbq seafood phnom penh cambodia

bbq stingray cambodia

The barbecued stingray was simply prepared.
Having said that, it was also perfectly cooked and very fresh, so the devil is definitely in those two details.

Interestingly, the condiments served were ram leaf (Vietnamese mint in Australia or pak faai in Thailand) with green tomato and fresh slices of cucumber.

The sauces were equally simple. Lime with salt and pepper, as in Vietnam, and fish sauce with chilli and ginger.

green tomato side dish cambodia

salt pepper and lime condiment cambodia

chilli fish sauce ginger dip phnom penh

Just as in Vietnam, the topping was a last minute dressing of garlic and spring onion in oil with salt and pepper

bbq stingray phnom penh central market

A lot has changed in Phnom Penh, and the mood seems entirely positive right now.
The city is abuzz with growth and activity and the people remain lovely.

I'd highly recommend a visit to Phnom Penh for 2-3 nights and Siem Reap for another 3 nights.
The food is incredible, the people so calm, and the value for money is second to none.
These two monks probably have a lot to contemplate.
Things are changing by the week….but in a lot of ways, Phnom Penh still stays the same.
That can't be said for the skyline.

monks contemplating development phnom penh cambodia

Apart from the wildly popular 'amok fish', what's your favourite Cambodian food?
Leave a comment and share your experience.

Phnom Phnom Phnom!

Posted in Asian Hawker & Street food, Fish & Seafood, Gluten free, Quick & easy - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

young coconut juice and young coconut jelly

Jul26
2012 3 Comments Written by chefshane

Here's a few words on a cheap, healthy, refreshing super-food that's common across coastal South- east Asia.
Young coconuts.
They are so refreshing and the portion size is almost perfect. In Thailand they cost around 50- 60 cents. Vietnam, 75c to $1.

Young coconuts come in a couple of different ways.
Sometimes they're young, white, clean and sexy. Small inner nuts that look like a baby's head. These are normally the "VIP" coconuts or commercial/export versions with the husk removed. Often they taste better as they are a dedicated drinking variety.

Guise 2 is pictured above. Fat green coconuts that get attended to with a sharp knife or machete at the point of service.
The taste of young coconut water depends on the variety of coconut and where it grows. Some are bland and watery, others are rich and sweet.

It's a pretty healthy drink – especially compared to beer and soft drinks.
Young coconut water helps relive hypertension & high blood pressure, and is excellent for re-hydrating.
It's the only natural substance that can be safely injected too – in times of war and disaster it can be used as emergency blood transfusion. It has the same profile as human blood plasma.
Plenty of lives have been saved through an IV drip of young coconut water, although if a doctor came towards me with a hypodermic syringe and a coconut, I'd be changing my health insurance plan.
Young coconut water contains lots of potassium and antioxidants, there's no cholesterol and it's only 50 calories a cup

I drink wine, beer, spirits – in fact most things you put in front of me, so I won't pretend that I drink young coconut juice for reduced blood pressure or a strengthened immune system.
I drink it because I find it's the best beverage for the tropical heat. It's a natural isotonic beverage, so just think "Gatorade" without the colourings, preservatives, chemicals and expense.
After drinking one, you do actually revive and perk up a bit, refreshed.

Pictured above is young coconut jelly. 
This is also great on a hot summers day. It's just coconut water that has been jellied, ut back inside the coconut and chilled until set. It's common in Southeast Asia, so look for a coconut seller – with a fridge.
One of life's simple pleasures, to be sure. Make sure you try it.

Pictured above – lots of coconuts waiting to be opened and drunk.
In the fridge on the left above the beer, jellied coconuts wrapped in plastic.

If you're in Danang City, Vietnam or intending to visit, this place is on Bach Dang Street on the Han River near Paramount Cafe and Waterfront. It's a great place to escape the sun and rehydrate.

Need some other uses for young coconut?
In Vietnam young coconut water is used for steaming prawns with ginger - a light aromatic and delicious way to enjoy them.
We adapted the recipe to our hot-rock table cooking and it's a big seller. Here's the recipe and some photos
Another famous dish from Saigon is pork stewed with young coconut water and caramel sauce.
Prawns and quail eggs are added in, and it's a great dish

Posted in Asian Hawker & Street food, Gluten free, Healthy & Low fat, Special dietary needs, Thailand, Vege & Vegan, Vietnam - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Fried sun-dried snake meat, Siem Reap Cambodia

Apr14
2012 5 Comments Written by chefshane

Snake Meat on Tonle Sap Lake

One of my favourite Thai beer snacks is called "dad dieow" which is fried sun-dried meat.
It's like biltong or jerky, only fried, and it tastes all the better for doing so.
In Thailand it normally comes in two stock standard flavours - "Neua dad dieow" which is beef or "moo dad dieow" which is pork.
Thin strips of meat are marinated for a few hours, then dried in the hot sun for a day or two until semi leathery.
It's a real treat – crispy, chewy and delicious when briefly fried in hot oil with kaffir lime leaves.   

It's delicious all by itself with a frosty beer or two, and even better eaten with sticky rice.
I gnaw on the stuff until my poor, sensitive gums ache and bleed from the effort of chewing.
I'd never seen it made with snake meat before until I visited this local restaurant in Siem Reap's closest floating village.

As I mentioned, fried sun-dried meat kills my teeth and gums…but I'm addicted anyway.
It's a bit like Italian pugliese bread.
You come off second best with torn gums and an ache that punishes you for hours. But still you crave more, like some sort of orthodontic masochist.
dried snake meat
I had no idea what this was at first, and it intrigued me.
I eventually asked, and was thrilled to find it was sun dried snake meat. I probed further and found that it was prepared exactly the same way as the pork and beef. Marinated, hung, and dried. 
Then deep-fried last minute and eaten with icy cold beer.
I had to try it.

I could go all cliché and say that snake meat tastes like chicken.
It does actually have a very subtle taste of its own, and a decidedly different texture. 
To confound the less adventurous, I'd say that it's more similar to frog or iguana.
Snake meat is white and it toughens easily.
It needs a light touch when cooking, or alternatively long slow moist cooking to tenderise.

Sun dried snake meat is "ngoo dad dieow" in my very rusty Thai. I don't know the Khmer name.
I was so impressed that it inspired me to try a crocodile version which turned out great.

I found this dried snake meat hanging from a houseboat restaurant near the river mouth on the lake. They also had excellent live fish and some more normal offerings too. If you're in Siem Reap, do pay a visit as it's just 17km from town by car, and a fantastic day trip.

You'll see lots of playful kids going about their daily lives, and hard-working vendors paddling fiercely from customer to customer.
I suppose if your house is floating on a river and it's an effort to get out, then the market will tend to sell more by paddling up to your front door


If you'd like to see another way to serve snake, check out this Thai tom yum snake recipe from Chiang Khong, Thailand .
I documented the process as it was cooked at home, in a local Northern style.
Unlike the more standard restaurant preparations, this was a very "rustic" recipe.
The snake was charred over glowing embers, skinned, gutted, chopped and then braised with tom  yum spices.
I was really impressed with a hauntingly delicious spice called prickly ash or "makem" which is a citrus-scented relative of Sichuan pepper.
 
Every story needs a happy ending, and ours was when the coconut boat floated up and hovered beneath us, waiting for us to relent and buy some.
We did.
Young coconut juice is incredibly healthy. 
It's cheap, tasty and refreshing, the juice inside rehydrates you much faster than those evil, sugary energy drinks.
In wars, disasters and remote locations it saves lives, as it's the only thing other than blood which be used for emergency transfusions.
Definitely grab a coconut to drink if you see one. You'll be an instant convert.snake meat
Thanks for visiting chef-a-gogo. If you enjoyed the site, please spread the word and share with friends.
Leave me a comment too.
If you've tried snake before,  what was your take on it? How did it taste? Would you eat it again?
If you haven't tried snake before, how do you feel about it now? Would you give it a go, or is it permanently off your menu?
Over to you.
Posted in Asian Hawker & Street food, Exotic meats & ingredients - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Toddy Palm, Loog Tan, Jaggery and Palm Sugar

Apr01
2011 4 Comments Written by chefshane

I just got back from Cambodia.

Riding around Siem Reap's outskirts after hectic 'templing', seeking respite from the midday heat is a thirsty, tiring business, 

Reeling backwards into the the tuk tuk seat in the embrace of a loved one is a nice way to travel. You get attuned to the rhythmic motion of the carriage as it fishtails gracefully behind the motorbike and bumps along the dusty roads.

You get to look at what is happening around you, but the eyes can droop and the frame will wilt after several solid hours of probing through the ruins of Angkor and it's surrounds.

What the doctor ordered to rectify this malady was a toddy palm. 
Driving along we started to see stands of street vendors with stands of toddy palm, or  'loog tan' in Thai.
My wife (the Doctor) was clamouring for loog tan. A contented wife means a happy husband, so I dragged myself forward and commanded the charioteer to stop, albeit in a somewhat haggard croak.

When we pulled over, we selected the object of our desires – a plump, browny-tan coconut sort of thing, which an inoffensive-looking lady then started dissecting with a machete.

I DO like horror movies, but the way she was carving up that solid woody critter raised the previously lifeless hairs on my sweat-soaked back. It was like the trailer of a Tarantino movie. I wouldn't be starting an argument with Slasher-Granny anytime soon.

The similarity to coconuts ends there.
The trees are taller and spikier, and once you hack them open, you're confronted with large refreshing pods of 'chewy jelly'.

A great move at home or in a restaurant is to chuck them into some baby coconut water or roasted coconut water with some diced ripe mangoes, a few red beans, some ice, and whatever else takes your fancy. A textural dream come true.

An even better move in the parched outskirts of Siem Reap is to grasp a machete-hacked chunk of toddy nut, and just suck that big piece of soft juicy flesh straight out, chew it, and swallow like a python chowing a mouse. It really quenches the thirst and refreshes the mouth.

I did take a photo, but I got the focus wrong, so I'm a bit shy to upload it. Not keen on the blurry shots.

Additionally, this tree makes great palm sugar.
English Palm sugar, Indian 'jaggery', Thai 'nam tan peep' – whatever you want to call it. 
To make the palm sugar, they drip the sap out of the tree and collect it. The sap then gets cooked gently until it reduces and begins to caramelise, and it then gets poured out and set into whatever shapes they fancy, or poured into jars.

I've been using this stuff for years. It's awesome.
Som tam, palm sugar coconut pandanus ice cream, shaved onto coconut creme brulee, used to sweeten curries, reduced and seasoned to make sauces for green mango. Yum. 
I've never tucked into it 'straight' though. I normally use it for giving 'body' or sweetness to a dish.

Standing there on the street watching it get made gives you a different perspective on it – and I decided to risk diabetes and just start eating the stuff like fudge.

They have the greenish palm packaging for the small bite sized chunks, and they are so addictive.

We managed three delicious bits each, then raised the white flag.
I've never done that at work before.

Watching it get stirred, shaped, moulded right there is fantastic. And it tasted great.

Posted in Vietnam - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
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