You can’t beat a cookery course for something different while travelling with a camera, and I was not disappointed. With all the flavours of Asia available, it would be a delight even for Delia.
Soklim arrived in his bright green tuk tuk to collect us along with his wife and 2 other french companions for our course. I must apologise as we chatted all day but never exchanged names :-(. Soklim had obviously visited the local market on his way, as there was a bag full of colourful and aromatic produce perched on the tuk tuk seat. Khmer Roots Cafe was our destination, right by the side of the Secret Lake where you can see the cows being walked to their next job. It is an hours scenic drive by tuk tuk from Kampot in Cambodia.
Soklim’s surroundings are simplistic. He has the cafe shack, ablutions and living areas. These are meticulously kept and I should take a lesson for less clutter is more! Their water is collected from the lake which is opposite, this takes them 2 hours each day. The welcome to their home was as I have come to expect in Cambodia – very warm! We chilled out while the shopping was put away, then the cafe menu was explained and we were asked to choose 3 dishes each to cook.
For those that know me well, you know I am a curry queen! So, I chose massaman and armok (Khmer) curries and something I hadn’t tried. I love aubergine but do struggle to know what to do with it, so I chose an aubergine stir fry.
There is no electricity here. Cooking is done on camping stoves, the fridge is a container with a huge block of ice and everything is processed by hand. So, there was lots of chopping and grinding to make our curry pastes. And, coconut milk is made fresh each day by the white of the coconut being ground out by hand, placed in a cloth then squeezed with water. This process looked rather painful to me, sat on a metal bar with a small shaver at the end!
Main ingredients used to make the pastes were; lemongrass, chilli (if you wish), kaffir lime leaves, ginger, turmeric, garlic and shallot. Other items that are added when cooking the curries are; fish sauce, palm sugar, salt, then the coconut milk.
The aubergine was blackened on the gas burner then the peel removed while hot, then chopped. Keep popping your fingers into cold water was Soklim’s tip. Then heat oil in a pan, fry finely chopped chilli and garlic, add the aubergine, then palm sugar, fish and oyster sauce, stirring away. This one has an amazing BBQ flavour.
We then sat and ate our end results. I have no words to describe the wonder complex tasty flavours of these dishes.
The cafe then got busy with passers by. Each dish is made from scratch, from the paste upwards. So, we said out goodbyes and headed back to Kampot. Great value at $20USD per person including transport and you get to eat what you cook. Thank you Soklim for your great Cambodian hospitality.
