Culture Tuesday is a weekly column in which Best of Vegan Editor Samantha Onyemenam explores different cultures’ cuisines across the globe through a plant-based and vegan lens. In today’s column, she is taking a closer look at vegan Cambodian cuisine.
Culture Tuesday – Cambodian Cuisine
Cambodian cuisine is the culinary practices and dishes which are traditional to the general population of Cambodia. Its original cuisine was that of the ancient Khmer who thrived on fresh locally sourced ingredients. However, through migration and trade between Cambodia, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, and India as well as the colonization of Cambodia by Vietnam, and the colonization of Vietnam and some of the other nations by France, Portugal, and Spain, the cuisine evolved to feature influences from other Asian nations through cooking methods and ingredients although a Cambodian style can still be seen in every dish separating that of the Cambodians from their influencers.
Cambodian cuisine features a distinct combination of sweet, sour, spicy, salty, and savory flavor profiles similar to other countries in Southeast Asia. However, they tend to have more sour, but less sweet, spicy, and salty characteristics than the dishes from the other countries.
The flavors of the dishes predominantly come from the use of fresh aromatic herbs, spices, alliums, and vegetables as opposed to the powdered ones commonly used by other cuisines. These aromatics include cardamom, chillies, cloves, coriander, galangal, garlic, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, nutmeg, onions, shallots, star anise, tamarind, and turmeric.
Another distinct flavor in Cambodian dishes is that of coconut milk which makes soups, kari (curry sauces), and desserts/snacks more filling, creamier, and more flavourful.
Rice in All Forms
Rice is a staple in Cambodian cuisine to the point that greeting or asking how a person is can be done by asking, “nyam bai howie nov,” which means, “have you eaten rice yet?” It can be found in various forms and used to make a range of dishes, side dishes, and desserts. These include naem chao (fresh spring rolls), nom krok (coconut pancakes), chha kh’nhei (stir fried ginger, where the rice is an accompaniment), and nom banh chok samlar kari (curry soup with rice noodles).
Naem chao is a Vietnamese-inspired spring roll made by wrapping fresh julienned vegetables in softened rice paper. They are also known as ‘salad rolls’ and ‘raw spring rolls,’ because the vegetables are left uncooked. Some cooks make naem chao with animal products. However, to keep the dish plant-based animal products can just be omitted or substituted with strips of tofu, mushrooms or commercial meat substitutes.
The cooked version of naem chao is known as, ‘naem chien,’ and ‘chai yor or.’ However, their differences are not just in one being cooked (fried) and the other raw, but also in the ingredients as the vegetables in naem chien are wrapped in a thin pastry made from wheat flour.
Nom krok, coconut pancakes, are a half-moon/half-spherical snack and dessert. It is made using rice flour combined with coconut milk and spring onions (green onions/scallions). They are usually vegan although some cooks might add non-vegan ingredients to them. Nom krok can be made savory or sweet, plain or filled. Filled versions could include vegetables, a creamy tofu mixture, and/or a bean mixture and topped off with fried onions or shallots for a more filling snack.
Nom banh chok samlar kari is a rice noodle curry soup dish of Indian influence. The curry soup base is usually either a yellow Khmer curry made with turmeric or a red Khmer curry made with chillies. It tends to contain animal products that can be substituted with suitable alternatives as well as potatoes, carrots, onions, ginger, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, and other aromatics.
The noodles in the dish could either be vermicelli noodles or silver needle noodles. Vermicelli is a very thin rice noodle. On the other hand, silver needle noodles are thicker and chewier noodles are also made from rice flour. To make them, the rice flour is combined with water and, sometimes, cornstarch too, then pushed through the holes of a sieve (or device similar to a ricer) directly into boiling water where they will be cooked first prior to being cooked further in the Salma’s kari. Other available rice noodles could be used in nom banh chok samlar kari.
Chha kh’nhei is a stir-fried ginger dish that is usually not vegan but often made vegan through the use of tofu or vegan chicken substitutes. It is made by cooking the chicken substitute with julienned ginger and other vegetables and adding more flavor through the use of chives, garlic, peppercorns, and sauces. It can be on the spicy side although a lot of cooks serve chillies separately to allow those eating to control the spiciness of the dish themselves. This dish is served with plain rice.
Hot Pot and Soups
Hotpots, known as ‘yao hon,’ and ‘chhnang pleurng,’ (literally translating to ‘pot fire’) are pot containing a hot soup which vegetables, noodles, and other ingredients can be cooked in just before eating and which can also be eaten like a regular soup. It is rather common in other Southeastern and Eastern cuisines although the Cambodian version varies in some ways. The most significant difference in the Cambodian hot pot is the inclusion of coconut milk as the base of the soup. However, clear broths are also rather common as soup bases in the cuisine.
Soups, also known as, ‘samlar,’ are broth dishes that can be served with or without rice as a side dish. They also do not have to be very hot and can contain a mixture of vegetables and/or noodles to make them more filling and flavourful. Cambodian cuisine has a wide range of soup dishes. These include nom banh chok and kŭytéav.
Nom banh chok is a breakfast noodle soup served warm or at room temperature as opposed to hot. It is made with rice vermicelli noodles, wing beans, banana blossoms, yellow kroeung, and hydrating water-dense vegetables such as cucumbers, sprouts, and waterlily stems.
The yellow kroeung is the source of the bulk of the flavor of the soup. It is a paste made by grinding fresh aromatic alliums, herbs, and roots together. The ingredients in a classic yellow kroeung include turmeric, galangal, garlic, shallots, and lemongrass. Dried red peppers could be added to the kroeung to give the soup a reddish color.
Kŭytéav, which is also called, ‘ka thieu,’ and ‘ka tire,’ is another breakfast noodle soup. It is made with a hearty clear broth (can be made vegan). Partially dry rice noodles are combined with garlic oil and sweetened soy sauce. This sauce could also contain oyster sauce which can be substituted with a vegan oyster sauce or mushroom sauce. The clear broth is then ladled over the mixture and vegan fish sauce can be added for a more authentic flavor. The topping of meat substitutes and vegetables are then added as a crown to the dish.
Recipe from Vegan Cambodian Cuisine – Khmer Curry by Vegan Food Quest
This is a recipe for a Khmer Curry flavored with yellow kroeung. In this recipe, you’ll learn how to make the kroeung from scratch and to make the curry from that to make a flavourful, delicious dish that pairs perfectly with plain rice.
Click here for the full recipe.
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