Cambodia: Nhoam Krauch Thlong and Amok Trey
Cambodia is a southeast Asian tropical country and is bordered on the northwest by Thailand, Laos on the northeast and Vietnam on the east.
A little history on Cambodia:
While peaceful now, Cambodia has had quite the tumultuous past. Cambodia was first ruled by the Khmer Empire from 790-1431. For centuries after this, Cambodia was controlled by outsiders, including Thai and Vietnamese kingdoms, France and Japan. Cambodia finally achieved independence in 1953, but unfortunately peace didn’t last long, with civil war breaking out between the communist force, Khmer Rouge, and the Cambodian government.
My sweet friend, Adrea, who spent 1 month in Cambodia and took all of these photos!
The civil war lasted from 1967-1975, with Khmer Rouge coming out as the victor. In just 4 years of Khmer Rouge rule, and under dictator Pol Pot, around 2 million Cambodians were either killed or died from starvation/disease, which was about 1/5th of the country’s population.
In 1979, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge government, which caused many Cambodians to flee to refugee camps in Thailand. Then, in 1993, the United Nations enforced a ceasefire and assisted with repatriation of Cambodian citizens back from Thailand. Cambodia is now seen as a peaceful country and is a huge tourist destination, but it was a long and hard road to get there.
Now, on to the food!
I’ve been really excited to cook this Cambodian meal and, while it didn’t quiiite live up to my expectations, it was still pretty good! And really fun to make! And at least I didn’t make kang kaeb baok (stuffed frogs) or fried spiders! I decided to make Nhoam Krauch Thlong for an appetizer and the famous Amok Trey for the main dish. I also tried an interesting dessert that did exactly turn out… keep reading to see what happened there haha…
Nhoam Krauch Thlong is a pomelo and shrimp salad and it actually reminded me a little of ceviche! Pomelos are very similar to grapefruit, giving the salad a very tangy, citrusy taste, which mixed really well with the other flavors and spices. Along with the shrimp, this dish had lots of mint and lime, as well as garlic, Thai chili, and fish sauce, and then topped with shredded coconut and crushed peanuts! It was so light and refreshing and was the perfect summer seafood salad!
Nhoam Krauch Thlong (Shrimp & Pomelo Salad)
*adapted and modified from cambodianess.com and asiaunplated.com
-1 lb shrimp, tails attached
-2 tbsp white sugar
-1 tbsp salt
-3 tbsp fish sauce
-1 lime
-2 tbsp water
-1/2 pomelo (or 1 grapefruit), peeled and shredded or pulled apart, as small as possible
-3 shallots, thinly sliced
-4 garlic cloves, sliced and lightly fried
-1/4 cup mint, chopped
-1/4 cup Thai basil, chopped
-4 Thai chilies, chopped finely (more or less depending on spice level desired)
-1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts, crushed
-4 tbsp roasted coconut, shredded
1.) Boil shrimp in lightly salted water, with a pinch of sugar, until pink. Remove from water and place on ice or in fridge.
2.) Combine sugar, salt, fish sauce, lime juice and water mix well.
3.) Mix the pomelo, shallots, fried garlic, mint, basil, chilies, roasted coconut, and peanuts. Add sugar/salt/fish sauce mixture.
4.) Add shrimp. Combine well and garnish with extra mint, basil, peanuts and coconut.
For Cambodia’s main dish, I made Amok Trey, which is probably the most popular and well known dish. It is also the national dish and is eaten during the Water Festival, which marks the end of the rainy season.
Amok trey is a spicy coconut fish curry, traditionally served in banana leaf bowls. I thought this dish was pretty delicious, but there was a slightly bitter aftertaste, which I think may have either been from the kaffir leaves or the galangal. Either way, I want to perfect this dish before posting a recipe here. Even with the slight bitterness, this was still really delicious and the banana bowls were super fun to make! Check out my instagram for quick tutorial video!
*Fun fact (you may already know this but I learned something new!): curry really just refers to a spice blend used in lots of Indian dishes. There are lots of different variations, but most include turmeric and cumin. Interestingly, many Asian countries also use the word ‘curry’ to mean dishes cooked with a spice blend paste, but, in this case, it doesn’t necessarily include turmeric! In Cambodia, this paste is called kroeung.
Ok, now for my dessert fail story… sooo, I really wanted to try to make this coconut custard that’s cooked in a kabocha squash. Kabocha squash are like a larger version of an acorn squash. I was feeling pretty good about this dish and even cut a cute little shape on the top of the pumpkin, and then immediately started running into problems…
Pre filling and cooking…
First, I didn’t have enough of the filling for both of the pumpkins I bought, so I only filled one. Then, the one pumpkin I did fill ended up BURSTING OPEN while cooking! It still tasted pretty good but definitely looked like a pinterest fail lol.
Is this not the saddest thing you ever saw lol??