Cambodian Recipes: Spicy Sour Soup with Pork Ribs

Lord Playboy’s Khmer Mother in Law shares some of her favourite Recipes with www.khmer440.com. Despite being an acclaimed screenwriter and author she prefers to do her own cooking and says that it helps her relax. If any of our braver readers attempt cooking these recipes at home, please let us know the results!

Ingredients and proportions tend to very in Cambodia from province to province, the recipes in this series draw on her life and learning to cook in Battambang.

M’joo kreuang ch’eung jomnee j’rook

[Spicy sour soup with pork ribs]

Ingredients:

1. Pork ribs 500g
2. Morning glory or green aubergine 300g
3. Lemongrass, thinly sliced 2 dessertspoons
4. Kaffir lime leaves, cut into thin strips 1 teaspoon
5. Galangal, finely chopped 1 teaspoon
6. Turmeric root, finely chopped 1 teaspoon
7. Garlic 1 bulb
8. Large dried chillies 3
9. Prahok [fermented fish paste] 1 dessertspoon
10. Tamarind [ripe or unripe to taste] 4 pods
11. Sugar, brown or white 1/3 of a teaspoon
12. Salt 1 teaspoon
13. Soup powder half of a teaspoon

Method:

– Chop the ribs into pieces approximately 1 inch long

– Slice the aubergine into quarters or if using morning glory, cut it into lengths.

– Then pound together the chopped spices. Mince the prahok, and mix it with the spices.

– Heat a pan, then fry the spices with the meat. Stir. Add a little water and fry until the flavours penetrate the meat, then add two bowls of water to the meat and simmer for at least 15 minutes.

– Then sieve in the tamarind, add the soup powder, sugar, and salt. Taste it to correct the flavours and then add the vegetables.

– Leave it close to the boil until cooked, then it is ready to serve with boiled rice.

Notes:

The aubergines listed above refer to the smaller green variety found in Cambodia, not the large purple ones found in the West, although the recipe works just as well if you do use those. Alternatively, you can mix and match both varieties, or mix and match aubergine with morning glory, as long as you keep to similar proportions, this is not normally done in Cambodia, but a little experimentation can often produce interesting results.

Enjoy !

Kosal and Lord Playboy

Additional Translation courtesy of Bachelor Translation: Tel 012 189 6518