Cambodian cuisine
Cambodian cuisine, or Khmer cuisine, rests on rice and fish, flavored with the fermented fish paste prahok and the herb paste kroeung.[1][2]
Rice and fish
A study in the Journal of Ethnic Foods describes the Khmer diet as resting mainly on rice and fish. Fish and fish products make up nearly 21 percent of all food eaten, one of the highest rates in the world.[1] The Tonle Sap lake alone supplies more than 60 percent of the country's fish catch. Most fish are caught from December to March, as the water falls after the rainy season of May to October.[1]
The same study ties the rhythm of rural life to this cycle: rice is grown in the rainy season, and fish are processed and preserved in the short peak of the catch. In those weeks thousands of people travel to the lake and the rivers. Some trade rice for fish, and others fish or work making prahok.[1]
Prahok
Prahok is traditionally made by fermenting the trey riel, a small mud carp.[3] Prahok of the highest quality may ferment for up to three years.[2] It is the main source of animal protein in the Cambodian diet, at 76 percent, and gives 37 percent of dietary iron.[1] The travel site of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) dates it in the Khmer diet to the Angkorian era of the 9th to 15th centuries.[3] In the countryside plain prahok is often eaten with rice. It also goes into soups and into fish amok, and it makes dips such as prahok ktis, a rich pork dip eaten with fresh vegetables.[3] Where prahok is not used, kapi, a fermented shrimp paste, often takes its place.[2]
Kroeung and flavor
Kroeung is a paste of herbs and spices pounded together, among them lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, turmeric, garlic and shallots.[1][4] The Journal of Ethnic Foods study writes that a cook's kroeung is a mark of respect in Khmer culture, and that kroeung blended with prahok is the signature flavor of the Khmer kitchen.[1] Recipes have rarely been written down. They pass from mother to daughter and differ from region to region.[1]
The writer Kayla Starr describes a typical meal as at least three or four separate dishes, with rice at most meals. Each meal usually includes a sweet, a sour, a salty and a bitter sauce.[2]
Dishes
Samlor korko, a thick soup of prahok, kroeung, fish, vegetables and fruit, thickened with roasted rice, is eaten with many meals through the week and all year round.[1][3]
Influences
Starr notes that many dishes resemble those of Thailand, that stir-frying came from Chinese cooking and curries from India, and that the baguette, a trace of French rule, is part of the cuisine.[2]
After the Khmer Rouge
Food was scarce under the Khmer Rouge, from 1975 to 1979, and its policies kept many traditions from being handed down.[2] The BBC writes that many dishes passed down by word of mouth were at risk of being lost. The chef Luu Meng, founder of the Malis restaurant in Phnom Penh, has worked to record and reinvent them.[3] In 2021 Cambodianess noted a cookbook of 38 Cambodian dishes, The Taste of Angkor, published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Journal of Ethnic Foods, Tradition and fermentation science of prohok, an ethnic fermented fish product of Cambodia (May 6, 2020)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Cultural Survival Quarterly, Kayla Starr, Key to Khmer Cuisine (June 19, 2009)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 BBC Travel, Prahok: The pungent fish elevating Cambodian cuisine (July 7, 2021)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cambodianess, How to Make Khmer Lemongrass Paste (March 22, 2021)
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