Cambodian Cooking Class at Shinta Mani (with recipes)
July 03, 2015
Cambodia goes far beyond temple visiting. Their food culture is also not to be missed. Khmer food takes influences from a variety of countries. It was a French colony previously and had many influx of Chinese immigrants. The country is also influenced by neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam.
Khmer food usually consists of rice and freshwater fish because they have Mekong river and Tonle Sap which provides fresh breeding grounds for fish. One of the classic Khmer dish is Amok, made from fish, coconut milk and curry paste, steamed in a banana leaf cups (similar to our otah, maybe our ancestors learnt it from there). Asian spices and seasonings were used, such as fish sauce, palm sugar, lime, garlic, chilies, coconut milk, lemon grass, galangal, kaffir lime and shallots.
During our stay in Shinta Mani Club, we had a chance to learn Khmer Cooking from the homegrown chef! Our cooking class started with a market tour where we visited a local wet market and understand the ingredients which Cambodians usually used. Then we went back to our hotel and had our cooking class at Kroya!
The first two dishes were simple – Green Mango Salad and Sour Kang Kong Soup with Catfish. What got me interested is learning how to cook the Fish Amok and Sweet Dumplings. Here’s the recipes to share with you!
Ingredients
- 100 g fish slice about 1 cm thick
- 25 g coconut cream
- 10 g coconut cream
- 10 g kaffir lime leaves julienne
- 10 g red chilli julienne
- 20 g green curry paste
- 10 g fish sauce
- 10 g sugar
- 20 g chicken powder
Curry Paste
- 150 g lemongrass
- 30 g galangal slices
- 5 g kaffir lime leaves
- 50 g turmeric root
- 10 g clove garlic
- 10 g shallot
- 10 g ginger
Instructions
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Blend the curry paste by adding all ingredients together. Set aside.
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Make banana leaf cups. Cut banana leaf 15x15cm square, use toothpick to join the edge.
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Combine fish, paste, 25g coconut cream, fish sauce, sugar, chicken powder and marinade for 15 mins.
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Steam for about 15 minutes.
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Add coconut crea, chilli and kaffir lime leaf on top and serve.
Ingredients
- 100 g sticky rice flour
- 100 g coconut milk
- some grated coconut
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 palm sugar cubes cut into small pieces
Instructions
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Make the dough by mixing rice flour with coconut milk until smooth paste.
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Take about 15g of dough, wrap it with a palm sugar cube and roll.
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Cook the dumplings in boiling water until it floats up. Remove and soak in ice water.
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Cover it with grated coconut and serve.
Recipe Notes
You can also use mung beans as fillings and coat with sesame seeds.
Shinta Mani Club
Address: Oum Khun St/Shinta Mani St, Siem Reap 00000, Cambodia
Phone: +855 63 761 998
Website: http://shintamani.com
