Seconds Please!

Hello, friends! 

There was a question before we got to Phnom Penh about whether or not I was going to gain weight on account of eating all sorts of new food or lose weight because of the portion sizes and such. After taking a few days for my stomach to adjust to the new cuisine, it was pretty obvious: I was coming home fat. =0).

Where to begin?! The food was so fresh, especially the fish. We had some students who didn’t eat fish back in the US but they loved it here. The vegetables were delicious. We tried all sorts of fruits you can’t easily find in the US like lychee, longban, durian, jackfruit and dragon fruit. Meg said that the iced coffee was some of the best she’d ever had. It was a delicious experience. In no particular order, here are my 5 favorite dishes from Cambodia.

Fish Amok: This was a fish curry with peanuts. The Khmer curry is slightly sweet so putting that together with super delicious fish and peanuts was a winning combination. One day we ate it with rice and one day we ate it with bread. Both days, it was declicious.

Beef Noodle Soup: You know me. You know this is my jam. The Beef Noodle Soup that we ate in the National University of Management cafeteria was easily top 5 that I’ve ever had in my life. The beef was tender, the noodles were cooked perfectly and the broth was a perfect combination of sweet and spicy.

Steamed Buns: The team made fun of me for how much I loved these but then I had them try them and they understood. =0). The steamed buns here were street food and apparently kind of hit or miss but everyone I ate was a huge hit. It was a steamed bun similar to what you would find at dim sum but it was bigger (at least twice the size), cheaper ($.50 per bun), and instead of bbq pork there was a ground pork concoction, perfectly spiced and with bits of hardboiled egg. I’m actually salivating thinking about it right now.

Egg-Crepe Thing: I have no idea what this thing was actually but it was so delicious and simple! Take a few eggs and cook them like a crepe. Fill the middle of that crepe with shrimp and bean sprouts. Put said crepe in a bowl along with fresh lettuce, cucumber, and chili sauce. Top with broth. Enjoy. I ate at that stand at least 3 times and I loved it each time.

Fried Noodles... Yummy!

Lok Lak: Lok Lak was definitely a favorite of the team, one that was standard fare at every restaurant where we ate. It’s pretty basic, just beef cooked in sauce and served with a side of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and a lime/salt/pepper sauce. It’s also topped with a fried egg and served with rice. While certainly not fancy, and something that can be cooked at home (we made it twice last week), the simplicity of the meal made it a hit with the team. 

There were also all sorts of fun and different things that we got to eat while we were in Cambodia. These included:

-          Durian, a spiky, stinky fruit that has the consistency of an overripe mango and a taste that sticks with you for a few hours (I liked it more than the rest of the team).

-          Jungle ants, which added more of a crunchy consistency to my soup than any actual flavor.

-          Duck embryo inside the egg, which is something that Nathan ate but I didn’t get to try.

-          Fried tarantula, which again, was something that was more crunchy than flavorful. It was also something that I enjoyed more than the rest of the team. 

I loved the food in Cambodia. I did. There’s no way around it. I would eat every meal I ate there again if it was offered to me. We got to eat Indonesian, Korean, and American food while we were there too but nothing will compare with the Khmer cuisine.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

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