...Cambodia (The land of the Sweet-Toothed)

Shadow puppets in Phnom Penh

So onto Cambodian food. Something we've really noticed is how sweet the food is here. On a cookery course in the capital Phnom Penh, almost every savoury dish we made involved copious amounts of palm sugar. When mixed with water it takes on a treacly taste which in the chicken curry we made, was incredibly overpowering. Perhaps too overpowering. 

The curry paste for our Khmer chicken curry (fresh turmeric, ginger, lemon grass,garlic and shallots)

The result

The other source of sweetness comes from a surprising ingredient. Condensed milk. For the ignorant, this is sweetened cow's milk with the water removed, resulting in a creamy consistency. Two brands dominate the competitive market, My Boy and Best Cows. Just as funny if you swap the words (though My Cows would get my money every time). My own direct experience of the stuff up until now has been watching my dad pour it over his bowl of cornflakes and muesli before adding hot water. So you can understand why I steer clear of it. However, it is difficult to avoid here. A breakfast in the market consisted of cups of tapioca, under-ripe bananas, jelly sweets and a generous lash of the creamy stuff. I'm glad I tried it but shan't be repeating it again (though the fact I could eat jelly sweets for breakfast was very exciting and felt like eating chocolate biscuits from the posh tin for breakfast on Christmas day). 

A tapioca breakfast in a Phnom Penh market

The gelatinous 'sweets'

Where it is welcome is in cold coffee. If you order just a coffee here, it'll be cold (if you specifically ask for a hot coffee, it'll be tepid). We have likened it to an upside down Guinness as strong coffee and ice sit on a layer of condensed milk at the bottom, allowing you to stir in as much as you like.  Attempts at making cold, milky coffee at home have never quite hit the spot. Now we know the secret of a good one. I urge you to try it (make sure the coffee is really strong).  

Aside from sweet stuff, I have been taking every opportunity to eat lok lak. This heavenly dish consists of thin slices of beef in a light tomato sauce served with rice, salad and a fried egg. Yes, I agree it does sound like something you might concoct yourself when you can't be bothered to go to Sainsbury's. But the dish is really pulled together by the dip of soy sauce, fresh lime juice and black pepper. In one place they served it with crinkle-cut chips. I had it two nights in a row. You can take the girl out of England...

Lok Lak

On a completely different note, we wandered past a restaurant with a sign promising 'You'll leave wanting more'. Our appetites insatiable, we kept walking. Amazing how such a sentence can be misinterpreted.