I was surprised to find on my return home to Bangkok that there weren’t many references – on-line or in print – for Cambodian foods. As a result, I had to guess at the recipe, and I don’t even know what the name of this dish is, since a transliteration of it was not included on any menus I glanced at. In future trips to Cambodia, I’m going to have to look into this and see if I can find some local references. If you know the Khmer name of this dish, please leave a comment.

Chicken with Lemongrass and Holy Basil

(4 Servings)

Preparation Method

• Heat the oil in a heavy skillet or wok. Add the lemongrass, onions and spur chili, and sauté over medium heat until the onions are wilted.
• Add the chicken; continue to saut&eacut; until the chicken is browned. Add the oyster sauce and chicken stock.
• Allow to simmer for a few minutes until the liquid is reduced to a sauce.
• Stir in the holy basil leaves and continue cooking for a little while longer, until the holy basil leaves are wilted.

Crispy Basil Leaves

Some crispy basil leaves make a nice garnish for this dish. In Thailand, where holy basil is cheap and plentiful, some chefs like to completely smother the dish in these leaves. Making them is easy. Simply heat some oil in a skillet or wok until it’s very hot, then drop a few leaves into the hot oil. They will fry up in just a few seconds, so you need to remove them quickly and place on a paper towel to drain. It doesn’t take much oil, but it does take a bit more than you’ll need to stir-fry this dish. I set aside the excess oil for future use, since it will take on some of the fragrance of the holy basil.

Cashew Chicken

I’ve jazzed up the typical recipe a little with the addition of a marinade and some sweet peppers. I also like to pan roast the cashews for use in this dish.

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Pour the orange juice, soy sauce, salt and pepper over the chicken and marinate for about 30 minutes.
• Heat the oil in a wok over medium flame. Stir-fry the garlic. When it begins to color, add the chicken and continue stir-frying until the chicken is cooked through, about three minutes.
• Add the cashews, chillies, onions and pepper. Continue cooking and stirring until the onions are soft, about four minutes.
• When serving, garnish with the sliced spur chili, coriander leaves and some additional spring onions.

There is another theory that mussaman curry originated in southern Thailand, where it may have been based on dishes introduced by Arab traders. Since this curry is one of the few well know Thai dishes that uses beef rather than pork, it seems possible that the name mussaman is a corruption of ‘Muslim.’

Mussaman curry is one of the most complex of all Thai curries. It uses many more ingredients than most curries, and also takes more time to prepare than almost any other dish. The extra time is largely due to the use of potatoes, although a ‘long time’ to prepare a Thai dish is 20 minutes or more, compared to most other curries that require 10 minutes at most.

Mussman Curry with Chicken

Mussaman Curry Paste

First, you have to make the curry paste.

Ingredients

To prepare the curry paste, grind together the dried chillies, coriander seeds, fennel, cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamom seeds, shallots, garlic, galangal and lemongrass to form a fine paste. Add the roasted peanuts and grind them into the paste.

Mussaman Curry Recipe

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

Preparation Method

Heat the coconut cream in a large pot to simmering. Stir in the prepared curry paste and continue to simmer until the fragrance is released. Add five tablespoons of fish sauce, five tablespoons of the tamarind juice and two tablespoons of the granulated sugar. Mix well until the fragrance returns, then add one tablespoon of the palm sugar.

Heat the coconut milk along with the meat in a pot. When it begins to simmer, pour in the coconut cream mixture along with the remainder of the seasonings.

Add the new potatoes and test the taste. Add more tamarind juice to make it more sour, or additional salt if needed.

When the potatoes are nearly done, add the onions, shallots, peanuts, cardamom leaves and cardamom seeds. Remove from heat.

Chicken Green Curry

Green Curry Paste

First, you have to make the green curry paste.

Ingredients

To prepare the curry paste, grind all of the ingredients together until you have a smooth paste. Store excess paste refrigerated in a tightly sealed jar. It will keep for several weeks at least. In fact, it’s best if you make the paste a day or two before you need it. The paste tends to get better with a little age!

Chicken Green Curry Recipe

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Fry the green curry paste in vegetable oil until the aroma is released. Add the thick portion of the coconut milk and continue stir-frying until the aroma returns.
• Add chicken and when the chicken is about half cooked, add the remaining coconut milk.
• Add eggplants and lime leaves. When cooked through, add seasoning: chicken powder, fish sauce, palm sugar, fresh milk, chillies and sweet basil leaves.