Phumĭ Koŭk Ta Di

The (probably) final cooking class of our trip today. We were picked up by Ben from Cambodian Countryside Cooking bright and early at 7.30am. After a last minute cancellation it turned out we were the only 2 people on the course which is good cause you get lots of help but it does mean you can't quickly hide mistakes or fudge things.

We started, as is the norm it seems, with a market visit. The moped loads never fail to surprise us. We saw one which had 4 people on plus two plastic washing basket strapped to the sides like makeshift side cars each with a small child in them. This market visit was probably the best one so far. It was quieter and as there were only two of us we had more chance to hear and ask questions. We learnt about how the stall management works, found out that Cambodians think we're crazy for eating coconut flesh (they feed it to the pigs) and that what they call a parsnip is very different to what we do. We saw a lot of fermented fish (apparently if it has maggots in it it's a sign off good quality?!) that our Western stomachs are too sensitive to eat and also a lot of live fish jumping out of their bowls and wriggling around the market floor. We also ate deep fried insect which was surprisingly delicious. It's good prep for when all the world's population need to start eating them.

After the market we headed to the cooking school. The cooking school is a not for profit business, the money made is put back into the school/shelter that Ben and his team run for orphaned children or children who's parents can't afford to look after them. It started in 2009 with 6 kids and now they're at 71. He's currently training up a young guy called Ti who ran the class, with Ben keeping a watchful eye. It was clear he was just repeating back the English he'd learnt from watching Ben so if we asked questions he got a bit lost but he'd only been there 2 months and did a great job. We started on dessert first as it needed an hour to steam and made a coconut custard filled pumpkin. We had it in Thailand and it was gorgeous so we were keen to try it again. Matt scraped out the pumpkin and I squeezed all the coconut in water to make the coconut liquid. A few more ingredients and it could sit in a steamer till it set. Very easy.

Next up was spring rolls. Our spring rolls were like snowflakes, no two alike! I kept thinking I'd got the hang of it and then would make a really crappy one. We began by peeling taro and 'parsnip' which took forever (they really need a spiraliser) and mixed it with egg, garlic that I had to smash by hitting it hard with a cleaver and pretending it was my enemy, and peanuts. Then we rolled them up. Despite them all being different they turned out ok out of the frier. After that we made Chicken Amok which I've wanted to learn since we got to Cambodia as it's possibly my favourite dish from the whole trip. It involved a lot of pestle-ing from Matt and a lot of chopping and smashing from me. Most of the ingredients you can get at home (hurrah) except the all important Amok leaves, but Ti reckons you can use spinach. I'm not sure I have the patience to thinly shred spinach, Amok leaves are lovely and long, easy to roll up but maybe I'll go crazy and try it was cabbage. We had to make little bowls out of banana leaves for it to go in. Matt had a lot more success. Mine was subtlety rejected! We enjoyed our Amok and pumpkin dessert in between lying in hammocks. It was a very nice morning.

After being dropped back we had an afternoon by the pool. Highlights being margaritas at the in-pool bar and a loud, drunk American woman trying to argue with a Brummy family cause their very young son was playing with a pool jet and she thought he would break it. Words were exchanged on both sides so obviously I subtley turned off my headphones to hear phrases like 'entitled' and 'irresponsible parents' being thrown around. The family didn't stop their son but started ignoring her fairly quickly but her loud monologue continued for about 20 minutes. Very awkward but super amusing. Matt then came out which distracted her and, despite her husband being there, she started cat calling Matt and calling him eye candy. Cringe.

Dinner was at a bargain Cambodian grill near the hotel where we saw possibly our favourite religious offering so far. Most businesses have a shrine to their chosen religious icon and there's usually food or drinks left. This one had a cup of coffee with a sugar sachet on the side. You know, just in case they want it. Then we met up with a woman called Eleanor who I work with and her new husband Matt who happened to have just arrived in Siem Reap on their honeymoon! (Plus a cat who had a seat at our table for a while) It's such a small world. We've had a few paths almost crossed whilst we've been here. I felt slightly bad for crashing their honeymoon but we had a fantastic time drinking lots of cocktails at Asana where we did the class last night. Probably at least one too many seeing as we had to be up at 6am for a flight...Read more