Hat's off to the chef*

After landing in Phnom Penh 3 weeks ago, I finally spent my first weekend trotting around the city. To be honest, I sort of felt like a tourist in my home town. I have very quickly adjusted to the streets, noise, people and pollution of the city and almost love it as if it were my own. On Saturday a small group of us decided to take a Khmer cooking class. We had read about this great restaurant (Frizz) in Lonely Planet that had excellent reviews so we paid our $23 and went for the full day course. We all met at Frizz restaurant where we were quickly packed into tuk tuk’s and taken to the local Market for a tour. We got a walking tour of the different “departments” of the market that are much like a grocery store –  sea food section, the hot counter, fruits and veggies, meat, etc… 

The "hot food" section of the market 

Everything that we would be using that day to cook was pointed out to us. We saw the usual bean sprouts, herbs and noodles, but (as to be expected) there was also an awesome assortment of  pig’s tongues, fish heads, frog kabobs, etc... I also must mention that in the seafood section they had whole fish displayed on tables that were still flopping around…bah! Going to the market is always an enjoyable and exciting experience, even if just for the people watching and diverse food spotting.

 The fruits and veggies section of the market.

In total we made four delicious Cambodian/Khmer dishes:

1. Fried Cambodian Spring Rolls - always a delicious favourite of mine. We also made sweat and sour dipping sauce to go along with these beauties! 

2. Fish Amok - Amok is a Cambodian curry which is steamed instead of boiled. We were told the secret to any good amok is the "kroeung", or Khmer herb paste. I will take this opportunity to brag about the amazing banana leaf cup I made for the Amok to be steamed in. Yes, not only did I make the Amok, but I also made the banana leaf cup with two tooth picks holding it all in place! 

(I can't figure out how to flip this picture, sorry!)

3. Banana Blossom Salad with Chicken - I had no idea the flowers that hold the banana's were edible, or that they were so delicious!

4. Sweet Rice and Mango - Rice for dessert, YES PLEASE! This dish was amazing and incredibly simple to make. Sweet rice, caramel sauce, coconut and mango!

Our teacher was really great and friendly but would definitely tell you if you were doing something wrong! The class was very fun and I learned a lot about Cambodian cooking. This is definitely recommended :)