Discover the recipes for the most popular dishes amongst the Cambodian cuisine.
The Cambodian cuisine consists of some of the finest finger licking recipes that can tantalize your taste buds. Known for its amazing sauces and wide variety of seafood the region has a healthy and tasty variety of recipes that anyone in the world would bight into.
Tirk umpel (Tamarind sauce)
This is one of the regions most popular and identity forming recipes. It is a special sauce that is used to enhance many different dishes. The sauce finds its roots in the Khmer traditions and is a sweet and sour sauce with a little spice. The Cambodians love to dip their meat and seafood in tamarind sauce and you will find it to be a common household item amongst the locals.
This delicious sauce is made using seedless tamarind pulp which is mixed with sugar, garlic and fish sauce as the main ingredients. There are a host of other ingredients that you can add to the sauce for the sake of improvisation. The additional ingredients vary from region to region.
Pahet (Fishcakes)
The fish cake known as Pahet is one of Cambodia’s favorite food items. It is made using boneless white fish that is nicely cut into little chunks. The fish cake consists of lemon grass, turmeric and cloves as the main ingredients. The cake is made in the traditional Cambodian style but there are many variations to this special recipe according to each region.
Amok Fish
Another classic Cambodian food item is Amok Fish. This is perhaps the most popular recipe to originate out of the region. There are two basic species of fish that can be used for this special dish; the codfish and the curried monkfish. The fish is seasoned using coconut milk which is what makes it unique. Other seasoning ingredients include ginger, garlic, chili and the old school fish sauce. The end result is a yellow colored fish with curry served in style upon lettuce leaves.
The amok fish gets its special taste because of certain special ingredients that the Cambodians make use of. The fresh Thai chili peppers with their seeds are one of the items that are used for adding some spice to the dish. Southeast Asian fish sauce is the classic dip sauce for amok fish eaters. In some areas the locals add fresh kefir lime leaves to give the dish a taste of freshness.
The fact that this delicious dish is so easy to make further enhances its value. You can begin by cutting the fish into half portions each and then seasoning it with salt and pepper. Concurrently you need to prepare a mix of coconut milk, paprika, turmeric, curry powder, chili powder, garlic, ginger and the fish sauce. Next up you need to soak the fish pieces in this mix for about a quarter of an hour.
The nicely marinated pieces of fish then need to be placed on medium heat over a skillet while adding the onions and the fish mixture for about three minutes. The last step is to decorate the fish with the lettuce and kefir leaves and you have the traditional taste of Cambodia on your plates.
