So what's (new for us) to eat? Cambodia

28th Feb - 7th Mar 2012

Anyone who knows us, or this blog, will know that we love our food. Especially finding new dishes or ingredients, we’ve never seen or tried before and eating them. During the 9 days we spent in Cambodia we were able to discover a few, as well as take part in a cooking class in Phnom Penh.

As in nearly every class we’ve attended in Asia, alas, spring rolls were on the menu, although this was the first time I’d seen shredded taro as the main ingredient. Our teacher informed us sweet white potato is a suitable substitute. Shredded, soaked in water and squeezed dry.

Heaven in a banana leaf cup

Yes, the pursuit for delicious and different food continues...just ask my butt! 

Mouse took me to the market yesterday, where I bought Hor Mok Bplaa. The thing about going to the market, with a local, is that they know who sells the best, freshest, whatever and at the best price. Oh, and they can explain to you exactly what it is you’ll be eating later.

Hor Mok Bplaa is a Steamed Curry and Fish Custard (hòr mòk bplaa /ห่อหมกปลา)

Angel's Juice

Angel, along with her sister, runs a modest eatery not far from our apartment. We sometimes drop in for a stir fry or Stray’s omelet. When she’s not cooking, Angel can often be seen sitting behind large plastic tubs, big enough to bath a small child in, and pots.



You would be forgiven for thinking this was something one might find on a forest floor, or possibly stuck to the bottom of a shoe, because sometimes, it would be.

Where in the world is Pho Chien Phong?

About two weeks ago...

In March last year our friends took us to West Lake, Hanoi, to dine by the waterside. One of the dishes we enjoyed was Pho Chien Phong. Little square pillows of deep fried puffed up rice noodle, topped with meat and water spinach.

Since that time Stray, especially, has had a hankering is determined to try it again. We did try to find it all the way down the coast of Vietnam, but like many dishes, this appeared to be a particularly regional specialty. 

So, he asks the receptionist at our hotel where we might find PCP and she kindly writes down the name in Vietnamese and of an eatery that may have have it on their menu. We walk to the restaurant avoiding the banana mafia (ladies carrying baskets of bananas or fruit on each end of a pole. If you don't buy the fruit, you'll probably end up with that pole slung over your own shoulder for a photo opp. If you do take a happy snap, you maybe hounded and surrounded by her and members of her 'family', to pay an unexpected exorbitant fee) and seat ourselves.

Stray shows the waitress the piece of paper, but alas, she says they don't have it. However, she does charade that they make a similar dish which is just as good. We order a glass of Hanoi beer while we wait and contrary to popular negative reviews...I liked it! It was light and had a hint of jasmine tea, or something or other. Or, could that have been a remnant of dish washing detergent? Just kidding.

Durian - the thorny truth

Just recently Stray, Lani and I met up with fellow blogger, Catherine, at Hugh and his lovely wife, Khun Pikun's, home. It was a real treat to meet each other in the flesh and in such hospitable surrounds...the evening went far too fast.

I can't remember if it was before or after I'd finished stuffing myself silly with delicious Northern Thai food, that the topic of durian fruit arose.



Durian fruit has sort of haunted me since we started travelling throughout Asia. Smelling it, before passing it, in the streets. Chuckling at the 'NO Durian allowed' signs on the back of hotel doors...it's always been on the 'must try that one day' list.

Thailand's Got Talent - Takoyaki

Near where we eat most nights, a van parks close by selling freshly made squid balls, aka Takoyaki. Not the processed meat kind, these have squid in the centre of a dough/batter, which is flavoured with grated carrot and shallots etc.

This guy has definitely cooked a few in his day and uses only a couple of skewers to get the job done.

The balls are moved along the row of griddles, depending on their cooking stage, the final one being set to 'keep warm'.

Op là! They're delicious and at five for 20 Baht, he has plenty of customers.

Snap's other blog Chiang Mai Thai

SiamSato, Ceylon Flowers and Abaranth

At the 7-11 I noticed this in the refrigerator.

It was in the beer section...so I grabbed a bottle, because it was so cheap. Only 25 Baht. I opened it when I returned home and poured some in a glass. No bubbles, barely any colour...what’s going on?

Chiang Mai's 23rd Food Festival

Lately our blog seems to be revolving around food...so why break the theme now? Last night we walked over to the 23rd Chiang Mai Food Festival. Not huge, but big enough to pass away two or three hours. About a hundred or so food stalls surrounding a large eating area, where you can enjoy a meal, beer and live entertainment.

Grilling whole fish over coals.

Umong Wine House Warming

Back home I really enjoy a glass of red wine (probably a little too much at times ;). In Asia, imported wine is obviously on the expensive side when compared to local products, particularly if you're on a local budget. Mike's review on Mao Berry Wine gave me hope, so I thought I'd do a bit of sampling myself. Why not!  A a house warming celebratory drink. We moved from a hotel room into an apartment today.

While wandering around Central Airport Plaza, I purchased a small bottle (70 Baht) of Umong Wine, rather than blow 250 Baht on what might be an inferior product.

Why So Blue?

I came across this today. I didn't taste it, because, well...it just looked unnatural to me. After Googling 'blue rice' I discovered that apparently it's coloured with the flower Morning Glory. Even if I knew that it wasn't riddled with blue dye, I still wasn't sure what to do with it next. The rice platter was surrounded by bowls of toppings/condiments...so I guess you just flavour it to your own liking?

Snap's other blog Chiang Mai Thai

The Garden

The Garden was one of our favourite places to eat, drink and duck out of the hustle and bustle of central Chiang Mai last year, so we went back for a visit. Unfortunately for us, good for them, it's situated smack bang near the intersection of the Sunday night Walking Street Markets.

I don't remember the walking being as slow or as crowded as it was yesterday evening. We stopped for a juice and sat out of the way for about 20 minutes and to escape the stifling heat generated by  bodies and hundreds of stall lights.

Anyway, we got there in the end and were lucky there were still a few vacant seats.

Stray's meal: pad see ew, excellent! My meal: Squid with basil and  of course steamed rice. Also excellent, however, I forgot to say 'nit naawy phrik kha!'. HOLD THE BLOODY CHILLI. Even after plucking the little blighters out, it was incredibly hot. My eyes started watering and the fire in my mouth intensified. I do alright on the chillidometer, but will never reach Thai standards.

I finish my meal. I ask the waiter for a little bit of milk.  He looks at me strangely and questions my request. I guess he couldn't figure out how the milk worked in with the squid dish and Chang beer. 'Yes please', I say. By the time he returned with my milk, delivered in a small jug :) the inferno was dying down...but I drank it anyway for good measure.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Yesterday - Half of today was spent getting some much needed supplies: phone charger, universal power board, locks etc. But on the top of our list were pillows. Because ours.... well, I reckon somewhere around town two foundation stones are missing.

The mattress isn’t far behind in the comfort department, but we’ll deal with that another day.

Robinsons at Airport Central Plaza, which is on par with Myer or David Jones, was a little over our price range. In fact the prices were similar to those back in Australia. We walked about a kilometre or so down to Tesco Lotus and bought our 199 Baht pillows, including covers.

I’m looking forward to tonight’s sleep, but I’m sure our new purchases will only highlight just how bad the mattress is.

First post from CM

If I was a superstitious person I may have cancelled my trip to Chiang Mai. The omens or warning signs leading up to our departure may have been enough to deter some: increased Red Shirt activity, explosive devices going off willy nilly, the cancellation of my course = loss of Ed visa = possible/probable loss of my deposit, headlines of  'Thailand - expecting worst floods in 50 years', an Aussie bank losing all of my certified documentation to sell my shares just prior to leaving, waking up to find a dead rat size mouse at the foot of the mattress on our last morning at home (a farewell gift from our cat) ...but, no, not me...I'm here!

We arrived late last night, extremely tired, but happy we got it all over and done with in one day. On exiting the airport Stray saw his old taxi driver mate, Mr A, so it was nice to see a familiar face straight away.

The hotel is pleasant, quiet, clean and quite large, situated in the outskirts of Chiang Mai and shadowed by Doi Suthep. Theoretically I'll be able to find my way back, should I get lost, using the mountain as a landmark.

The recorded female elevator attendant in hotel is a bit of a worry. She had a slight spac attack this morning and advised that we were shooting up past the mezzanine floor and penthouses (like there are any) at great knots, and that there was an earthquake and we should get out.

Dragon Fruit Tree

This post should really be called 'Dragon Fruit Plant on a Tree'. Two posts ago I replied to a comment and mentioned our Dragon Fruit plant (Pitaya) and how the only fruit we ever see are small and pathetic, and on the ground, along with ginormous dead flowers. I first tasted the white fleshed variety in China, without it's skin and cut up, so didn't recognise it at the time. Twenty or more years ago I planted a small piece of the Pitaya cactus at the base of a gum tree.

This is the way a fruit bearing DF plant should look, neat, trimmed and well maintained.

Nata De Coco...Salacca...Favourite Foods!!!!!

Stray and I have enjoyed broadening our food horizons as we travel, trying different dishes, vegetables and fruit. We dropped into (not our usual) an Asian grocery store yesterday on the hunt for fresh, thick sheets of rice noodle, but they didn't stock it.

We want to try our hand(s) at making Pho Chien Phong. Little pillows of fried noodle topped with beef and kang kong. We love cooking, because we love eating good food.

Not my photo, but we tried it in Hanoi, it's delicious.

What are these please?

Sunday morning markets.

Cucumbers

Turmeric? and chillis.

Don't know what's in the bags, the guy selling these didn't know their name...in any language. Here's a close up, any ideas? Small to big pea sized and shaped, each on their own stork attached to a main stem. Most were green, a few were turning yellow to red and you can just make out the small cream coloured flowers. Chillis?

Tamarind

Sunday morning market at Woodridge Station, Brisbane, Australia 6 am - 12 pm. We walked away with enough fruit and veggies to hurt my arms, for AU$20.00.

It's a sign 3

Funny sign (menu) number 3.

As you may or may not know, I am (feeble attempt) learning Thai. No matter how many native Thais we spoke to on our last visit, they pronounced the R as an L. For instance, KanchanabuRi...written in Thai script with a ror rua - ร - or letter R in plain speak, was pronounced KanchanabuLi. No matter how many times we politely questioned it, the locals insisted that the R is pronounced L. OK, so we continue on our holiday doing likewise.

After returning home and investigating the Thai language further, learning resources state I MUST pronounce the R as an R ...even more so, as a rrrrrrrrroooooooooolllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggg R...like in the Russian language, which is handy, because I am half Russian.

Here it has been reversed....go figure!

The learning resources say that it's just a laziness thing, Thais not pronouncing their R's. But I found this menu particularly funny becuase they had purposely used an English R to create an L sound.

No matter what, Broccori (or is it Bloccoli?) is good for you :) and I'm thankful I didn't have to translate this menu from Thai to English or vice verse. By the way, our meal at the Golden Triangle was delicious and just look at those prices. Something I'll be really appreciating on our long stay.

PS. Also, I'm pretty sure that's meant to read Bitter Gourd, not Bitter Ground.

Day 22 Saigon

Shopping day today...just a few souvenirs to take home, eating and relaxing. Nothing interesting to tell so below are a few pics.

Vietnamese electricity cables.
Stray writing postcards to Sophie and Chu.
Tim Tams...even in Vietnam!
The quieter end of District 1
One of the more affluent homes in the hills of Dalat

Pretty in Pink.

Day 20 Saigon

Bored with the area our hotel is in (OK if you like Gucci and expensive souvenirs), Stray went looking for another hotel with Hieu, a taxi bike rider. The power went out where our current hotel was, which made packing our bags really uncomfortable and poor Stray had already spent the morning running up and down stairs in about six different hotels.

We decided on Madame Cuc's 3 Hotel which is located in the same district, but in a more interesting area not far from the Ben Thanh Markets...and we saved a massive US$14.00 per night :) The hotel had no elevator, but it did have an electric winch to upload and download luggage.
The staff where wonderful, even sharing their cooked duck embryos with Stray. The room came with a free modest breakfast, dinner, and all day bananas, tea, coffee and juice. It was by no means the Ritz, but a lot more entertaining and personal.

People watching from the hotel entrance was always a good time passer...like why are Vietnamese people walking into the police station next door with pink books in the evening, or why are young men riding around on bicycles at night shaking rattles as they go?

The pink books turned out to be records of foreigners staying at the local hotels, passport details etc. Their way of keeping track of who is where. We probably do the same, but in a computerised version.

We were told that the young boys were offering massages and I think the person who told us this, really believed it. After Googling it, I found that they are actually male prostitutes.

It's alive...or it used to be!

Spring cleaning again. This post used to be a page and is dedicated to strange fruits, odd plants, interesting food and anything that is or was, once alive!

A butterfly that wouldn't leave us alone. Monkey Waterfall Vietnam.

Langsat, tastes like citrus and grape and splits into segments. Malaysia. (not my photo, I couldn't find mine, but I ate plenty of them)

One Elephant Fish on a platter. I felt a bit sorry for it, nobody wanted to buy it for lunch. Mekong Delta Vietnam.

Frogs at a Hanoi market. They were alive a few seconds before this, and skinless.

Crispy Pancakes or Khanom bueng, a Thai dessert.

Unusually scalloped bark. Shanghai China

Sorting tiny crabs from the even tinier crabs. Hanoi Vietnam

Part of the spread at the temple.  Hanoi Vietnam.

Large grapes, funny leaf. Hanoi Vietnam

Keeping the prawns fresh. Hanoi Vietnam

Pomelo...yum, like giant Grapefruit but not very sour. Hanoi Vietnam

The jackfruit in Vietnam (Artocarpus heterophyllus or A. heterophylla) is a species of tree in the mulberry family (Moraceae), which is native to parts of Southern and Southeast Asia. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh. It is well suited to tropical lowlands. Its fruit is the largest tree borne fruit in the world, seldom less than about 25 cm (10 in) in diameter. Thank you Wikipedia.

Mangrove roots. Brunei Borneo

Giant moth. Brunei Borneo

Laksa. Brunei Borneo

Donut lady. Mekong Delta Vietnam

Nem Nuong (Nem nướng) is grilled meatballs, usually made of seasoned pork mince, on a skewer of lemon grass stalk. Slide it off into a rice paper wrapper, top with salad greens, herbs and rice noodles and roll up. Then dip into peanut sauce and eat. Hue Vietnam.

Some sort of flossy edible at the market, probably some type of sprout? Hoi An Vietnam.

Vietnamese coffee in the making. Really strong, really sweet and really addictive.

Part of the lovely gift given to me by Dung's Mum. Sapodila plum (Vietnameme: "quả hồng xiêm" or "quả sapoche") Plum = quả. Hoi An Vietnam.

Part of the feast Huong cooked for us. Some type of Vietnamese shellfish. Que Nhon Vietnam.

They don't look that nice, but taste great. They are Hong Deo...dried persimmons. Da Lat Vietnam.

Cooked Duck embryos..yes, that's right, chicks cooked in their shell. Saigon Vietnam.

The makings of Nasi Lamak in Christina's kitchen. Kuching Borneo.

Lichen and moss. Kuching Borneo.

Fresh ingredients at the Top Spot restaurant. Kuching Borneo.

Ready to go into the steam boat. Kuching Borneo.

The steamboat.

Offerings to Buddha...note the chicken! Nha Trang Vietnam.

Same same but different! Thailand.

Tom Yum Khung soup on the boil. Chiang Mai Thailand.

Please let me sleep. Still not sure if they were drugged or not.Chiang Mai Thailand.

Awww...how cute and definitely not drugged. Kanchanaburi Thailand.

A young goanna in our front yard. Australia.

'Outside' a shop, at the bottom of a pillar...a fish tank with a lone goldfish in residence. Bangkok Thailand.

Huge prawns on the go. Bangkok Thailand.

One of my daily bouquets...thanks Stray! Thailand.

Lunch. Golden Triangle Thailand.

Pho Chien Phong. Yum! Deep fried squares of rice noodle topped with slivers of beef and water spinach. Hanoi Vietnam

Bot Chien. Fried squares of carrot cake (not the type we know) mixed with an egg and served on a bed of shredded ??? salad. Saigon Vietnam

Wellington New Zealand

Dunedin New Zealand.

Swiss said...

i laughed so much when i saw those persimmons. you were right, unsightly. but you cant keep a good persimmon down.

i never knew what they were called but i also had the Langsat and had forgotten about them until now.

great pictures!! and the coffee has flared up my addiction... i might have to go brew a cup. i brought whole bags of khmer and vietnamese coffee back to the US with me, and some bags also for my mom which i am bringing back to her next week. i cant wait. she's the kingpin of coffee drinking and will go crazy for this.

i loved reading this!

m

August 15, 2010 3:32 AM

Snap said...

I know what you mean about the coffee! I bought one those coffee makers home with me and am lucky enough to have a friend in Vung Tau (VN) who sends me supplies.