Passport & Plate - Fish Amok
Cambodia | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 5 photos
Ingredients
Paste Ingredients:
1 red onion
3 stalks lemon grass
3-4 clove of garlic
6+ Kaffir lime leaves
Fresh ginger - enough for a 2-3 tablespoons
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
Spicy peppers - enough for desired spiciness
1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar
Oil
Lime juice
Amok Ingredients:
2 fish fillets or chicken (Can be made vegetarian, just add more veggies)
1 bell pepper
400mL can coconut milk
Hand full of snap peas
1 carrot
1 zucchini
Soy sauce or salt
*You can also add mushrooms or any other veggies you desire
Rice Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1 table spoon butter
Pinch of salt
1 cup white rice
How to prepare this recipeStep 1: The Paste
Peel the onion and garlic
Roughly chop all the ingredients and toss them into a food processor or blender
Blend until they all become a paste
Add oil/lime juice as liquid is needed (I added about 3 table spoons oil and 2 tablespoons of lime juice)
Step 2: The Amok
Fry the paste for 3-4 minutes until the aromas are released.
Add the coconut milk and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add additional Keffir lime leaves and lemongrass to really infuse the flavors into the Amok.
While simmering, chop up the bell pepper, snap peas, carrots, zucchini and other veggies. Set aside.
Step 3: The Rice
Bring water with salt and butter to boil.
Add rice and reduce temperature to simmer.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Take off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
Fluff with fork before serving.
Step 4: The Meat
While the Amok is simmering, heat up pan with soy sauce (or oil and salt).
Fry fish until cooked.
Step 5: Putting it all Together
Pull lime leaves and lemon grass from the Amok mixture.
Add the fish and veggies.
Let the mixture simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes until the veggies are soft.
Add additional milk to keep the consistency from getting too thick.
Add more sugar if you find the Amok too bitter.
Step 6: Plating and eating
Place the fish amok on a plate.
Add rice to the side.
Close your eyes and take a bite.
Feel yourself transported to the Kingdom of Cambodia.
The story behind this recipe“This country has stolen my heart.” – Personal Diary, July 2013. Little did I know how true this first journal entry would be.
When I’m asked what my favorite country is, a hard question for any traveler to answer, I automatically say Cambodia. I smile, thinking of all the beautiful memories I have from my year spent in that special country. I close my eyes and see the rolling hills of Mondulkiri and deserted sandy beaches near Kep. If I try hard enough, I can almost taste the mouthwatering Fish Amok my soul has been craving since I left.
Citrusy Kaffir lime leaves. The distinctive lemon grass scent. Biting ginger. As I was cooking this Cambodian Amok, these scents transported me half way around the world to a place I think of as a second home. Almost instantaneously, I fell in love with Cambodia. My month long stay to earn my TESOL certificate was all too short. I ended up coming back to teach English in Cambodia for almost a year. What is it about your first international country? Why did I fall in love? There is no one reason but it happened somewhere between my walk around the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, my conversation with a local Khmer man about his life during the Khmer Rouge regime and my time spent teaching the smelly river orphans English in Phnom Penh.
Why, you ask, Fish Amok? Why wouldn't it be Fish Amok! Chopping the lemon grass took me to the time I ran through a leech infested jungle. Peeling the ginger whisked me to the Khmer street wedding where I tried ant soup. Even chopping the onion reminded me of my tears that fell when I left the country for the last time. While it may look like a cross between split pea soup and over masticated cow cud, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Amok brings me home anytime I’m feeling homesick. How many dishes do know that have this magical quality?
