Cambodian Food: Sour Soup with Coconut and Pineapple
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.
Somlor m’joo k’tih m’noah
[Sour soup with coconut and pineapple]
Ingredients:
1. Pork ribs 500g
2. Pineapple (ripe) 1
3. Coconut cream 500g
4. Red chillies 5
5. Lemongrass, thinly sliced 2 dessertspoons
6. K’jiay, finely chopped 1 teaspoon
7. Galangal, finely chopped 1 teaspoon
8. Turmeric root, finely chopped 1 teaspoon
9. Kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped 1 teaspoon
10. Fish sauce 1 teaspoon
11. Sugar, brown or white 1 dessertspoon
12. Garlic 1 bulb
13. Shallots 2 bulbs
14. Kapi [fermented shrimp paste] 1 teaspoon
15. Prahok [fermented fish paste] 1 teaspoon
16. Soup powder half of a teaspoon
17. Salt half of a teaspoon
18. Ripe tamarind 2 pods
Method:
– Chop the ribs into small pieces approximately 1 inch long
– Remove the eyes from the pineapple, and chop it into small pieces.
– Scrape the coconuts and extract the thick and the thin coconut cream, keeping them separate.
– Pound the lemongrass, galangal, k’jiay, turmeric, chillies, salt, garlic, shallots and Kaffir lime leaves. Then add the kapi and prahok.
– Simmer the thick coconut cream until it thickens further, then add the spices, meat, fish sauce, sugar, and soup powder. Stir until thoroughly blended.
– Add the thin coconut cream and simmer until cooked, then add the pineapple and tamarind. Taste it to correct the flavours, then it’s ready to serve.
Notes:
‘K’jiay’ is a spicy ginger-like root, sometimes known in English as ‘lesser ginger.’
Enjoy
Kosal and Lord Playboy
Additional Translation courtesy of Bachelor Translation: Tel 012 189 6518
