Upon arrival, our culinary expectations of Cambodia were not necessarily low, simply non-existent. Lack of preparation or information, maybe. Of course there will be heaps of delicious fruits, and, given we will be in the tourist hotspots, there will be a good selection of whatever cuisine, but Cambodian cuisine itself is just a fuzzy concept at first. Well, we are in for quite a treat. Not only is there a great selection of vegetarian options in most places we go to, but we are impressed by the quality, freshness and variety of vegetables on offer. Our market tour in Phnom Penh (see separate article) confirms: Cambodians generally do not own a fridge, so multiple, “on demand” market visits are the norm. Sometimes this means waiting a bit for our food, as it is literally if not picked, at least just being shopped for us. We are big fans of Thai cuisine, especially the liberal use of fresh herbs for flavouring, and here we discover that Cambodians, too, love their lemongrass, mint, coriander and diverse varieties of basil. Considering that with the exception of Thierry, we are not big on chili hotness, I particularly take to the cuisine here where the chili is not directly incorporated in the pastes, but offered as an add on according to each person’s own personal preference. Here some of our highlights:
Num Banh Chok.
A typical breakfast soup with flat rice noodles, fish sauce, a thick yellow/green curry loaded with lemongrass and ginger, mint leaves, and served with bean sprouts, green beans, banana flowers, lotus stem, celery leaves, cucumber and whatever other vegetables are on hand. This is soooooooooo good. We have it practically every morning and will most definitely try to recreate this back home.
Jun
We are already fans of fermented drinks, notably Water Kefir and Kombucha but here we discover a bar solely dedicated to fermented drinks, introducing us to Jun (or Xun). While Kombucha primarily feeds on a base of black tea and cane sugar (or whatever sugar substitute, often stevia), Jun is based on green tea and raw honey. Those who know me, know that I am slightly obsessed with gut bacteria diversity, and I have just developed a new love affair. They offer all kinds of flavours, from ginger to purple dragonfruit, they are all delicious and not too sweet which is what we often reproach the off the shelf brands. This becomes our almost daily ritual, to go fill up two 1l bottles of Jun and Kombucha or Kefir each, which usually doesn’t make it further than a few hours. As so often, we wonder why not more kids opt for a fermented drink – it’s sweet, it’s fizzy and it’s so so good for your immune system and even brain health – instead of the brain-numbing sodas of the world.
Thai basil pesto pasta
You could argue that that this is neither authentic Cambodian, nor that original since I’ve made Thai basil pesto several times before. However, here at Haven – a restaurant cum hospitality training centre with delicious food – they mix their Thai basil pesto with lots of mint which gives it just the extra kick. Combined with lots of crunchy green veggies, this quickly became one of the Journiac family favourites.
Cashew fruit
The true fruit of the cashew tree is a kidney– or boxing-glove–shaped drupe that grows at the end of the cashew apple. When ripe, the whole thing falls off the tree, and the bottom part is gathered for processing. The false fruit (called cashew fruit or cashew apple) is edible. You can see it second from the right in the picture below. In this case, it was poached and then served with lime-sugar-salt, giving a very unique tangy-sweet flavour profile.
Longan
The fruit of the longan is white, round, and together with its hard seed, looks like an eyeball when the shell is peeled off. It is related to the lychee and instantly became a big hit with all of us, especially since it is much easier to peel!
Num Ansom Chek, Bhan Chiao/ Chhev, Nom Kroch
The coconut sticky rice with banana barbecued in a banana leaf Num Ansom Chek, the giant rice flour and turmeric pancakes stuffed with beansprouts and herbs Bhan Chhev as well as the fried sweet sesame balls filled with salty mung-bean paste Nom Kroch (khmer for “orange cake”) were all big family favourites. See the Phnom Penh post for these!