Cooking Curry in the Cambodian Heat

Mmm… Khmer curry. How do I describe it? It’s sweet and not too spicy, and perfect for my stomach.

I love curry, but too much of it and I’ll get an upset tummy! Even worse, some curries are so spicy I can’t even finish my first mouthful! Previously, my favourite was the duck with lychee in red curry in Krabi.

It has finally met its match.

Is it crazy that I had a bowl of Khmer curry 5 days in a row in Siem Reap? Considering the many other dishes to try, it may be so. But once I had my first sip, I was hooked!

When I spotted the poster at our hotel lobby promoting their in-house cooking class, I elbowed WJ excitedly and we signed up for it. And I chose to learn to cook the curry, naturally.

Given 3 choices for each category, I chose the deep-fried spring rolls for the appetizer, the Khmer curry with chicken for the main dish, and the banana sago for the dessert. WJ chose the fresh spring rolls, fish amok (another yummy dish!) and red bean sago.

We took the 2pm slot, about half an hour after we finished our set lunch. Bad idea! But I’ll dwell on that later…

Since this was our first cooking class, we didn’t really know what to expect. Our teacher-chef was a smiley man, and it’s good to know that we weren’t the only ones perspiring furiously in the heat! There was an assistant on hand to help teach us too, as we had chosen 2 different sets of dishes to learn.

After donning our bright orange apron and hat, it was down to work. Or rather, doing what the chef tells us to do. I really have to work on my chopping skills!

First, we started on the appetizers. Lots of rolling were involved. The trick is to hold the skin tautly as you roll the filling so that it’s nice and firm. But don’t pull too tightly as the skin might break!

WJ’s one being the fresh spring rolls contained mainly raw veggies. The skin which were stiff in the beginning had to be dipped into cold water to soften it.

My fried spring rolls were more tedious to make as we first had to cook the veggies and chicken, then roll them up and deep fry them.

Second, for the main dishes of Khmer curry and fish amok, the chef showed us how similar the ingredients were. There were only two to three different spices used for each dish. Since it’d take forever to ground the spices on the spot, we used the paste the chef had made beforehand.

The fragrance wafted up as we stirred coconut milk into the paste. Mmmm…

While waiting for WJ to finish up with his amok, the assistant taught me how to cut the banana leaves into shapes for decoration. The chef also showed us how to cut and curl the chilies.

Third, it was time for the desserts. Again, ingredients for both the banana and red bean sago were very similar. Only the main ingredient was different – yup, the bananas and red beans!

The hard part was the slow pouring of the coconut milk while you stirred slowly, the keyword being slowly. I poured the coconut milk a little too quickly which, as the chef put it, led to the milk ‘breaking’. The result was a very chalky base, instead of a smooth, creamy sago. Hmph.

Right after we finished our main dishes, the chef asked us to eat our food before starting on the dessert as they wouldn’t taste good cold. We’d just finished our set lunches a little more than 2 hours before, but we still managed to squeeze most of the food in. We brought the sagos back to our room to savour slowly though!

We were awarded a certification of participation after the cooking class, and posed for some photos in our aprons and hats.

The next day, I realized Temple Club at Pub Street also had a cooking class for USD$10 cheaper per person. And I prefer their Khmer curry. Ah well, it’s not like I didn’t have fun!

Our class at Golden Temple Hotel (not to be confused with Villa or Residence!) cost USD$25 per pax. Including the time we took to eat the appetizers and main dishes, the session took about 3 hours.