Making an amok(ery) of the local cusine

Back to Phnom Penh for the third and final time and I had enough energy to get to the National Museum. Its rather lovely and contains statues from the Angkor temples putting them further into context. There was an animation made by Monash Uni visualising Angkor in 1200 which was really interesting. Equally interesting was a display of an archaelogical dig undertaken on a mound in the middle of the West Baray that is only uncovered in times of severe drought. It revealed a pre-Angkorian necropolis adding more data to the prehistory of the area. I was most taken by a statue that had been situated at "The Gate of the Dead"at Angkor Thom. Must find out more.

The next day was cooking class day and as far as I'm concerned a must do. Called imaginatively enough The Cambodian Cooking School, it was a full day of cooking Khmer classics and included a guided tour of a local market. The market was amazing - watching a live fish get thumped on the head then cleaned and scaled was certainly an eye opener! Learning about the variety of eggs was fascinating too - for the record duck eggs are very popular here and come in fresh, embryo and preserved states. (Image right: dried fish) Then it was off to the kitchen to get our hands dirty (word to the wise - fresh tumeric stains!). The first dish was fried spring rolls with a taro and carrot filling. I wrecked my first one but the rest turned out fine. This was followed by banana flower salad with chicken which is a bit like Vietnamese coleslaw. And then the main event - fish amok. Amok is a classic Khmer dish of fish in a yellow curry sauce steamed in a banana leaf (below right). We bashed our own curry paste in a mortar and pestle (a good upper arm workout!). We shredded, sliced, stirred and steamed until it was ready. Words cannot describe how good amok is - well, there are two, deliciously rich. Then, just when we thought we couldn't eat any more it was time for dessert - fresh mango with sticky rice, coconut and a caramel sauce made from palm sugar and coconut cream. All in all a gut bustingly good day. And as it was pelting with rain probably the best place to be. I slept well that night which was just as well as I had a 6.45am bus the next day to Kratie - my last stop in Cambodia before crossing into Laos.