Come Along With Me: Khmer cooking class - part 2: Cooking and Eating

After our visit to the market, we returned to the restaurant and began preparing our meals. Each person in the group selected an appetizer and a main course. In our group of 3, we decided to make a mango salad, a banana flower salad, and fresh spring rolls along with fish amok, fried pineapple with pork, and Khmer chicken with bok choy. There were 5 other people in our class, a girl from South Africa, two girls from Taiwan and a couple from Dublin. Many of them also made the fresh spring rolls and fish amok, along with a few other Khmer dishes. (Side note: I love living here in Siem Reap. There are so many people from all parts of the world who come to visit this little town and meeting people is half the fun.)

All the appetizers and some of the main dishes required a lot of chopping, slicing and dicing of different vegetables, fruits, spicy peppers and other herbs. I was surprised at how much garlic was used in Khmer dishes and how little spicy peppers were used, but am not complaining...I love garlic! After spending about an hour prepping all the food, we then learned how to create the spice pastes that we would use to season our dishes. We used a very large mortar and pestle to grind up our spices and peppers For fun, our cooking teacher showed u s how to make tomato roses and flowers from carrots. Most of us failed miserably but had fun trying. (She made it all look too easy and was very encouraging as we attempted to replicate her creations.)

To prepare the main courses, our group worked in shifts in the very small kitchen while the rest of us assembled our appetizers in the main dining room. The head chef worked with us one on one in the kitchen, taking us through the steps to prepare our dishes. There were no measuring spoons or cups to be found in the kitchen, just unlabeled glass jars and various size spoons. I made my dish by just following her directions. "One big spoonful of oil...two small spoonfuls of palm sugar...more water...stir...add this...more of that." As someone who is more of a baker and measures every ingredient out to its exact specifications, this method of cooking was foreign to me. However, I knew I was in good hands with my teacher and even asked if I could add extra garlic and chilies to my dish. This request made her smile but she also questioned my ability to handle a spicy dish. I assured her I could handle it and in went the extra garlic and chilies...and a pat on the back from my teacher. :)

Once all of our dishes were cooked, our group sat down for a well deserved and very delicious meal. Of all the "touristy" things I have done here in Cambodia, this is one of my favorite. I thoroughly enjoyed my teacher taking us through the market and explaining the different foods. She took time to show us how to cut vegetables, fruits and chilies so there is little waste of food or time. Even her tutorials on how to turn vegetables into edible decorations were fun and something that I will try on my own. What made this experience extra special for me (and my husband) is that our teacher is also the mother of one of our students. Once she found out that we were teachers at the same school that her son attended, she became more than just our teacher...she become our mother, too.

Here's a link to where we took our cooking class: http://angkor-cooking-class-cambodia.com/html/

Here are some photos from our cooking class.

We were each given a chopping board and a plate of veggies, fruits and herbs to make our appetizer.