Amok in a Sock…and…I made a vegetable swan

I’ve always found cooking classes a great way to engage with a place and its people. It is also nice to do if you are finding the “seeing” in “sight-seeing” is taking its toll and you want to be a bit creative and do something practical. 

I was very excited to be back in Cambodia to eat as much amok as I could fit so when I found a cooking class with the promise of making it myself, I was all the more overjoyed. On my last trip to Siem Reap my friends (Scott and Bianca) and I had even made a tribute song to Amok.  (Though our simple song probably didn’t quite convey our love for the dish: “Amok, amok, amok in a sock”!) Prior to Rob's and my arrival in Phnom Penh we had spent a morning cooking up some Vietnamese goodies in Ho Chi Minh. 

VEGETABLE SWAN'S IN VIETNAM*

Our Vietnamese class began with a trip to Bin Tanh market to buy ingredients. We stuck out like sore thumbs being pedalled by cyclo to the market. Trying to make the most of the situation, we thought we could practice our Vietnamese sayings and numbers with our friendly drivers. They went off on a tangent however and got into a repetitive chant of “Chuk Mung Num Moi” (Happy New Year). Tet was finished some time ago but the signs (and apparently the greetings) hang around long into the new year.

Multi tasking ice-cutter dude

To market to market

After the market we walked to a restaurant where Vu, our teacher chef, taught us about our ingredients and how to chop them Vietnamese style. He was a great teacher and I learnt a lot from him. We (Rob and I, a couple from Singapore and another Aussie) made fried chicken with lemongrass, green melon shrimp soup, prawn spring rolls, pancakes, pork and prawn salad and even a vegetable swan and flower. We were given long cooking chopsticks as souvenirs, perhaps also something for the China fairy to take home for us. The food was delicious!

Chef Vu, a knife expert

Smell that lemongrass!

Rose, heart pancake

Cooking group and delicious lunch

AMOK IN A SOCK IN PHNOM PENH

Our Khmer cooking class in Phnom Penh began with a friendly welcome from our teacher chef, Nara. He gave Rob and I Cambodian names: Chantha and Raksmey. My name means sunshine and Rob's means something like 'talking of the moon'.

Tim and the spring rolls

We were excited to be doing the class with our friends Tim and Steph even though we were a bit worried about Steph’s previous violent behaviour around food! As well a delicious country-style amok, we made a pumpkin custard dish, deep fried eggplant rolls and a pork & peanut salad. The extreme heat of the Phnom Penh kitchen was worth the excellent results. After our satisfying dinner we rolled around Phnom Penh trying not to look like we needed a tuk-tuk for our stomachs.

Choppity chop!

Amok: the main attraction!

Excited to learn the art of amok

Pumpkin custard: a must try!

Ready to dig in!

Both cooking classes were excellent. Our HCM class was a bit more organised and I probably learnt more in terms of technique but both were equally enjoyable. Hopefully we can replicate our results back home!

COOKING CLASS WEBSITES:

Ho Chi Minh: CycloResto

Phnom Penh: Backstreet Academy


* Full disclosure: None of us students actually make the swan. We watched the Chef Vu make it. We made the flowers!

My flower alongside Chef Vu's swan