Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Cambodian Desserts
On Sunday, I went to South Main Baptist Church Cambodian Congregation for their Thanksgiving service. Since it was for Thanksgiving, they served American food. They did a wonderful job. Here's a picture of Jarretts plate of food, because I forgot to take one of mine lol. Plus he got more than me!
There's mashed potatoes with dark brown gravy, cornbread in the middle, green beans, stuffing, deviled egg, and TURKEY. I swear, Cambodians can make anything taste good lol.
On with the real Cambodian food. . .
This is called Banh Chu Nuo. It's a Cambodian dessert which I'd say is similar to Japanese mochi except instead of pounding sticky rice into a paste, the dough is made out of water and glutinous rice flour. These balls are filled with cane sugar (gives it sweetness AND crunch), mung beans, and shredded coconut. The broth is made out of coconut juice and sugar and the whole thing is sprinkled with black sesame seeds. It's SOOOO good served lukewarm.
Sorry for the fug picture...I didn't want the church people to think I was weird. This is called Thuh Pai. It might not have been totally appropiate for church because it's alcoholic lol. It is dark purple rice with added yeast and sugar. The whole thing ferments in a preferably dark, muggy place and served cold and sprinkled with very thinly shredded coconut. I got a little buzz from it because I'm a lightweight (I didn't even finish the whole little bowl lol).
It tastes a little sweet and the texture of the rice isn't sticky anymore, but rather juicy from soaking in the fermented goodness. The coconut adds some richness to it. It's hard to describe, but I remember not being allowed to eat more than a little cup of this stuff when I was little. I guess I know why now. Anyways...yeah I was a little buzzed at church, but Jesus drank wine right? lol I know I'm so bad.
Cambodian Desserts
On Sunday, I went to South Main Baptist Church Cambodian Congregation for their Thanksgiving service. Since it was for Thanksgiving, they served American food. They did a wonderful job. Here's a picture of Jarretts plate of food, because I forgot to take one of mine lol. Plus he got more than me!
There's mashed potatoes with dark brown gravy, cornbread in the middle, green beans, stuffing, deviled egg, and TURKEY. I swear, Cambodians can make anything taste good lol.
On with the real Cambodian food. . .
This is called Banh Chu Nuo. It's a Cambodian dessert which I'd say is similar to Japanese mochi except instead of pounding sticky rice into a paste, the dough is made out of water and glutinous rice flour. These balls are filled with cane sugar (gives it sweetness AND crunch), mung beans, and shredded coconut. The broth is made out of coconut juice and sugar and the whole thing is sprinkled with black sesame seeds. It's SOOOO good served lukewarm.
Sorry for the fug picture...I didn't want the church people to think I was weird. This is called Thuh Pai. It might not have been totally appropiate for church because it's alcoholic lol. It is dark purple rice with added yeast and sugar. The whole thing ferments in a preferably dark, muggy place and served cold and sprinkled with very thinly shredded coconut. I got a little buzz from it because I'm a lightweight (I didn't even finish the whole little bowl lol).
It tastes a little sweet and the texture of the rice isn't sticky anymore, but rather juicy from soaking in the fermented goodness. The coconut adds some richness to it. It's hard to describe, but I remember not being allowed to eat more than a little cup of this stuff when I was little. I guess I know why now. Anyways...yeah I was a little buzzed at church, but Jesus drank wine right? lol I know I'm so bad.
There's mashed potatoes with dark brown gravy, cornbread in the middle, green beans, stuffing, deviled egg, and TURKEY. I swear, Cambodians can make anything taste good lol.
On with the real Cambodian food. . .
This is called Banh Chu Nuo. It's a Cambodian dessert which I'd say is similar to Japanese mochi except instead of pounding sticky rice into a paste, the dough is made out of water and glutinous rice flour. These balls are filled with cane sugar (gives it sweetness AND crunch), mung beans, and shredded coconut. The broth is made out of coconut juice and sugar and the whole thing is sprinkled with black sesame seeds. It's SOOOO good served lukewarm.
Sorry for the fug picture...I didn't want the church people to think I was weird. This is called Thuh Pai. It might not have been totally appropiate for church because it's alcoholic lol. It is dark purple rice with added yeast and sugar. The whole thing ferments in a preferably dark, muggy place and served cold and sprinkled with very thinly shredded coconut. I got a little buzz from it because I'm a lightweight (I didn't even finish the whole little bowl lol).
It tastes a little sweet and the texture of the rice isn't sticky anymore, but rather juicy from soaking in the fermented goodness. The coconut adds some richness to it. It's hard to describe, but I remember not being allowed to eat more than a little cup of this stuff when I was little. I guess I know why now. Anyways...yeah I was a little buzzed at church, but Jesus drank wine right? lol I know I'm so bad.
Cambodian Food
Have you ever tried Thai, Chinese, or Vietnamese food? Well, Cambodian food is a relative of all of those foods! In Cambodia, the foods that everyone eats every day are rice and fish. People eat the rice, fried, steamed, or as rice noodles. They eat the fish fresh, dried or salted.
A Cambodian Food You Might Not Want to Eat!
Cambodians always want to ask foreigners if they want to eat "prohoc," which is one Cambodian food which they think foreigners can't possibly be able to eat. Prohoc is made from rotten fish which is left to ferment to become a fish paste, which they eat with rice. Although this description makes prohoc sound worse than it is, many foreigners have a difficult time getting accustomed to its rather strong taste! What is especially interesting is that Cambodians call cheese "prohoc barang," which means French prohoc. To Cambodians, cheese must taste like rotten fish paste!
Seasonings which Cambodians like to use include hot peppers, lemon grass, ginger and mint.
Many older Cambodians chew betel nuts. Chewing betel nuts turns their teeth and gums a dark shade of red. The Cambodians consider dark teeth to be beautiful because white teeth are like the teeth of a skull. Even Cambodians who do not chew betel nuts often deliberately darken their teeth with paste. So, don't be alarmed when you often see people spitting out a jet of red liquid which looks rather like blood. This is in fact the juice from betel nuts, chewed for its digestive and mildly stimulating effects!
Desserts are made from either fruit or rice. Cambodians love to eat very sweet desserts. In the cities, ice cream is popular but in the countryside there is no way of keeping it cold. Tea is the most readily available drink but Cambodians also like coffee which was introduced by the French. They like to drink it with very sweet condensed milk.
Here are some pictures of typical marketplaces that can be seen in Cambodia:
