Cooks in Tuk-tuks

We were eating like kings, so I wanted to take a cooking class while we were in Cambodia. There are several cooking classes available, but the hot pink themed “Cooks in Tuk-tuks” spoke to me. When I got there, it was only me and another girl. We were lucky, because we got a much more personalized experience than either of us had expected!

The general outline was a market tour, followed by cooking, followed by lunch of whatever we made. It was all that, and a bit more…

Crickets, crickets, water beetles, and snake!

Our first stop on the market tour was at a street side stand selling snacks. What kind of snacks? The finest crickets, water beetles, and snake you’ve ever tasted. Well ok, you’ve probably never tasted these delicacies, so you’re going to have to take my word for it. Only about the snake and the crickets though, because I couldn’t bring myself to try the water beetle. Too crunchy. The snake tasted smoky and like any jerky you’ve tried, and the crickets were sauteed with chili and garlic so they tasted like…chili and garlic with a bit of a nutty aftertaste. Not something I’m going to crave, but I’m glad I tried it!

How many kinds of eggplant do you see?

We walked by a temple, and saw birds and turtles in cages. Apparently, if you “purchase” them, the seller will release them and all of your troubles will fly away with the bird (or swim with the turtle). The unfortunate part is that the birds are trained to return to the cage. Not sure what happens to your troubles at that point! We passed on this opportunity.

The market tour was great, and worth doing on its own. Our chef took us through all of the aisles, pointing out all of the different fruits, vegetables, meat and seafood on offer. They had four different types of eggplant, and a different word for each of them. Our food vocabulary felt quite limited at that point.

Market in Siem Reap - note the frog legs in the front of the photo

We saw frogs’ legs, live fish, cows’ heads, chicken feet, and everything else you can imagine. I was surprised to see the sellers crouched on top of the waist high tables; in wet markets in KL they stand behind their tables. We wandered down the street towards the guesthouse where the cooking class would take place, looking at all the food sold in the street: snails with chili and garlic, banana fritters (so good!), and fresh sugarcane juice (not as sweet as you’d expect).

A different kind of escargot

The dishes that our chef had selected were the two dishes I’d been hoping to learn how to make: banana flower salad and fish amok (a non-spicy curry dish). We had a great time, chatting and chopping away. It’s definitely a prep-intensive cuisine, and we did everything the hard way in a mortar and pestle. I asked if we could use a blender at home, and the answer was yes, but it will taste different! Not as much sweat is what I think was meant, and I guess I’ll have to get a mortar and pestle.

Our tasty and traditional lunch

The end result was delicious, and we dined on the floor in the traditional style. They did talk me into buying a pyramid shaped rice mold, so I can recreate some shred of elegance for Grant, even if his meals aren’t as finely prepared. I’ve got to find a cooking class in KL to try out next!

Posted by on Jan 11, 2012 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

Phnom Penh

We decided to skip the Killing Fields and the genocide museum. I know a lot of people feel it is important to bear witness to this period of Cambodian history, but we thought that it would be too sad and depressing. Instead, we visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda, the National Museum, Wat Phnom, and the Central Market.

Gates at the Royal Palace

From our hotel, you could see the tips of the ornate pagoda style rooftops of the Royal Palace and the National Museum peeking over the tin roofs of the buildings around us. When we visited the palace, I was struck by the fact that there were more gardeners than guards. Much of the palace itself is off limits, but we visited the throne room pavilion, strolled through the well manicured gardens, and spent most of our time in the Silver Pagoda area.

Throne Room Pavilion at the Royal Palace

Ramayana mural at the Silver Pagoda

The wall of the outer enclosure is decorated with a mural depicting the Ramayana (a Hindu epic originating in the 5th or 4th century B.C.). We didn’t know the story at the time (wish we had), but it appears that the gist of it is that Rama’s wife Sita gets abducted by a neighboring demon king, and a great adventure ensues while he is trying to get her back. Our favorite moments included a human bridge and a serious malady:

Go go gadget, supersize!

Monkey armies coming out of his ears

The Silver Pagoda itself houses many Buddhas (including an “Emerald” one, as in Thailand) and other relics, and is named for its floor, which is covered by more than 5,000 silver tiles. Most of them are covered by a carpet, but you are walking across them nonetheless, and it was unnerving to hear the floor creaking loudly beneath your feet.

National Museum

The National Museum is one block over and was worth a visit. It focuses on Angkorian artifacts, as one would expect, and the courtyard provided a nice space to relax. Lots of sculptures here with minimal explanation, and there were two exhibits that I found particularly interesting. One of the museum’s goals is to preserve Cambodian traditions, and there was a room full of photographs of dancers from the Royal Ballet holding poses. Accompanying this were excerpts from interviews with them talking about the differences in traditional dance the way they had performed it previously and the way it was being performed at the time the photos were taken (in 1927). The other exhibit that surprised me was detailing some of the archeological work being done in the country, and the problems they have encountered with ancient bronze drums being looted as recently as in the early 2000s and sold for the value of the metal. Of course, it also focused on the education efforts and the attempts to convert former looters to archeological assistants.

After the museum, we strolled along the riverfront, and noticed stationary exercise equipment installed there. The next morning, when we were picked up for our bus ride to Siem Reap, a German woman who had stayed opposite that area commented that when she woke up, she thought she had joined the army! Apparently, there were loud early morning aerobics classes held there as well. We did see badminton being played in the squares in front of the Ministry of Defense; it’s a very popular game in Southeast Asia.

Made it to Wat Phnom, where we paid the stupid foreigners tax by walking around the base of the hill to the main entrance, and going up to the ticket booth. It was just as easy to approach the temple from any other side, and no one was asking to see tickets. I’m trying to think of it as stimulating their economy, and not just as taking advantage of us.

The Central Market was memorable for its Art Deco dome, which did create a sort of natural air conditioning effect. We had a quick lunch here at the food stalls, which ended up costing us $1.50 total! Basic and delicious.

Grilled meat at Central Market

Probably safe to say that our favorite part of Phnom Penh was one of my new favorite restaurants in the world: Romdeng. This was initially suggested to us by our hotel, and we later realized that it is one of the Lonely Planet’s top picks too, and deservedly so. It’s in a villa set in a quiet enclosed garden, and we ate upstairs on a balcony with friendly geckos for company. The restaurant is associated with Friends International, which works to help get children off the streets, and in this case to give them the training they need to succeed in the hospitality industry. Romdeng is a “training” restaurant specializing in creative Cambodian cuisine, and all profits go back their projects for street children. We loved it so much that we ate here three times, even leaving Kampot a little early on our last day to squeeze in one last lunch. Great food and a worthy cause, what’s not to love?

Grant's favorite meal

So when they say creative, they mean it! One of the most famous/infamous dishes on the menu is Fried Tarantulas. No, we didn’t order it (too many tasty sounding dishes on the menu to go for the shock factor), but the table next to us on our first night did. They had three young kids, and we were duly impressed with their willingness to try new foods. The oldest one (maybe seven years old?) seriously confided in me that he didn’t like spiders at all, but the littler ones were diving right in. No problem munching on the legs, which were apparently nice and crispy, but we all recoiled a little when the youngest who couldn’t have been more than four stuffed a whole body into her mouth. Gross. The next night (yup, twice in a row), a table near us tried to order them, only to be told that they were out of tarantulas, and only had one left…which they proceeded to bring out alive on a plate for us all to see. I prefer hanging out with the geckos, thank you!

Everything we did eat there was amazing, and we bought their cookbook to try to reproduce some of our favorite dishes: Banana Flower Salad with Cambodian Bacon, Khmer Muslim Beef Curry, and Fish Amok. They sell banana flowers in some of the local supermarkets here in KL, and I made that on Sunday – a pale imitation of the one we had here, but I think I’ll get there eventually and have a lot of fun trying!

Banana Flower Salad at Romdeng

More to follow on Angkor, the cooking class I took in Siem Reap, and our time on the Cambodian coast…

Posted by on Jan 10, 2012 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

Eat to live or live to eat?

We knew we would not go hungry in this part of the world, and I was excited to try some of the special dishes that Singapore is known for. Since we have been living in a hotel, we’ve been eating every meal out, and I don’t think we’ve had a bad one so far. The best have been in the hawker centers, so they’ve also often been the cheapest, but there were still three local specialties that I wanted to have before we left for KL.

Dressed for success!

Chili Crab: Full disclosure: you know that I brought some Old Bay halfway around the world, and nothing can really compete with Maryland blue crabs, but you’ve got to give the local team a chance. East Coast Seafood Centre has four or five seafood restaurants overlooking the Straits of Singapore. There were huge ships lined up in the Straits as far as the eye could see, and we chose to eat at Jumbo’s since they had a prime table for us overlooking the water.
We’re going to have to rely on my description, since I didn’t manage to get any photos of the actual dish. The crabs were Sri Lankan, and they came partially cracked and covered in a tomato and chili based sauce. I dove in, and I was immediately covered in the sauce too – this is not a delicate meal. The crab itself was very good, but I found the sauce a bit sweeter than I would prefer. Next time, I think I’ll try Black Pepper Crab, another variation on the theme that seemed popular as well.

Singapore Sling at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel

Singapore Sling: Should you visit Singapore without having a Singapore Sling? Of course not, and where else to go, but the place that invented it: the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel. The Raffles Hotel is a step back in time, and you’d almost expect to find Somerset Maugham still sitting in the bar. It’s all wood panels, green shaded lights, idly rotating fans, and tourists drinking slowly (these drinks are expensive!). Best part of the experience? Cracking the peanuts at the bar and dropping the shells on the ground. Next time, I think I’ll have a beer with my peanuts, but I’m glad I tried it once. So fruity and sweet that you can’t taste the gin at all. I bet Blythe would love it!

Maxwell Road Food Centre

Chicken Rice: It is exactly what it sounds like, but at the same time SO much more! This was my favorite meal, and I shouldn’t have waited until our last full day to try it. Ok, so it may not sound very exciting: boiled chicken and white rice made in chicken stock, served with a thick soy sauce and a chili/garlic/ginger sauce on the side.
We went to one of the locals’ favorite places for it, Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice in Maxwell Road Food Centre. On a Saturday afternoon, the hawker center was only half full, and only half of the food stalls were open, but Tian Tian had a line that wrapped around the corner of the building and extended out into the parking lot.
The chicken was so silky and tender, and the rice was full of flavor. I doused it liberally with the chili sauce, and drizzled the soy sauce on top, but even my first few bites without the added sauces were delicious. This will be my first stop when I come back to Singapore!

My Favorite: Chicken Rice

Posted by on Nov 22, 2011 in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Eat to live or live to eat?

Fish Head Curry and other adventures in Little India

Roly-poly fish heads are never seen drinking cappuccino in Italian restaurants with Oriental women! Garth, we were thinking of you.

Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up, yum!

On Sunday, we decided to explore in Little India, which is only a 10 minute taxi ride away from our hotel.

Sri Verramakaliamman Templer: View from across the street

Deepavali was celebrated recently, and there are still arches over the roads decorated with swirling patterns and peacocks and lights. It’s a technicolor paradise: women dressed in gorgeous saris, fabric shops galore, and temples covered in statuary and floral decorations. The air is perfumed with spices and incense, and it was a far cry from the shopping malls of Orchard Road.

Sri Verramakaliamman Temple: Dedicated to Kali

We visited two temples: Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, dedicated to Kali, and Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, dedicated to Vishnu. I wish I knew more about Hinduism to better understand what I’m seeing, and I guess this will be my year to learn! The second temple actually had a nice exposition tucked away on the side about Vaishnavism that was very interesting.

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple: Dedicated to Vishnu

Shoes off before you enter, and it’s customary to bring some type of offering for prayers and to receive blessings, such as fruit or flowers, and there were many shops nearby to purchase them. Lots of chanting and people were queueing up at the different shrines to pray and prostrate themselves in front of them. You could wander the entire temple as long as you didn’t enter the inner chamber.

I could have happily stayed in the first temple for hours, watching everyone participating in small rituals. My favorite one is the ringing of the bells on the doors as you enter and exit. Both temples had huge wooden doors studded with small bells and carved icons, and it seems that the ringing of these bells creates an auspicious sound, announcing your presence and driving away evil energy.

Doorbells

We spent a couple of hours walking around, and on the advice of our taxi driver and Lonely Planet finally ended up on Race Course Road in search of fish head curry. Why? Why not! When in Rome…or Singapore…

Grant hadn’t tried this when he was in KL, and in the morning he announced that today was the day. Once the taxi driver recommended it too, it seemed like a no-brainer (and no, I don’t think I ate fish brains). Banana Leaf Apolo had been mentioned in the guidebook, and the promise of air-conditioning along with the presence of lots of Indians made it our choice.

We ordered a small Fish Head Curry to share, and the serving that arrived was huge; I can’t imagine how enormous a large order would be! It was delicious, not too spicy and kind of fun to pull the meat off the bones. After we’d attacked the first side, I flipped it over and the flesh kind of disintegrated into the curry from there, leaving the eye and the skeletal remains looking balefully up at me.

Probably not a dish I’d put on my regular rotation (there are too many options here to consider developing a regular rotation yet!), but I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to order it again, and I think it’s going to be one of those must tries for anyone visiting, but I promise not to force it on you. It’s too early to scare anyone away!

Posted by on Nov 15, 2011 in Uncategorized | 2 comments