This is one of the first Cambodian dishes I’ve cooked since I’m here. Almost authentic because I made one slight change to the recipe. You may think that I’m living in Cambodia and it’s taken this long to cook Cambodian. Truth is I didn’t have a kitchen for such a long time (16 months to be exact) during this trip that I could only eat local food where ever I was. Sometimes good and sometimes a downright disaster. Anyone who knows me in Europe will know what a pain in the ass I can be when it comes to eating out. I can easily walk for 2 hours (on an already empty starving stomach) in a ridiculously foul mood because I refuse to pay money (no matter how little) for crap food. Unfortunately for me most food places in Berlin have substandard food quality. Since travelling I had to give up my high and mighty food standards for eating out. I would’ve starved to death. And the food isn’t all fantastic here like I thought. Whether eating out in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore , Thailand or here in Cambodia, the good places have to be found (and I usually refuse to pay western prices to eat out in Asia). Amazing from the zillions of hawker stalls and street food available how much is to my liking. Too oily, little taste, tough meat, not spiced well or made with misery. I believe that food absorbs the energy of the cook and kitchen. If the kitchen is filthy in the nooks and crannies, I won’t be eating from that kitchen for long. And miserable cooks make me miserable when I eat their food. The same goes for anger. I don’t need angry cooks feeding me their anger as I have enough of my own to deal with.
The difference is of course if one get’s invited into a family for a meal. In Bangladesh I ate exclusively with my extended family and occasionally here in Cambodia I was lucky enough to eat with a family. Only then does one eat real food made with love that can be tasted and felt. The difference is amazing. This is the reason I cook. To make food with love and passion….and as healthy as possible so I can dance a jig immediately after dinner. This is how I measure the standard of my cooking. Food should taste and feel good during and after eating.
Anyway, since I live in Cambodia I can eat Cambodian dishes everyday (and did so for months on end), so it wasn’t on my priority list for cooking.
Cambodian snake head fish – you get the same fish in Bangladesh. How on Earth they swam the freshwater distance is beyond me…??
Baby water melon…..?
Nurul's Culinary Adventures 