Cambodian Culinary Quest

Passport & Plate - Sweet, Salty and Spicy Khmer Stirfry

Cambodia | Thursday, February 19, 2015 | 4 photos

Recipe:
1 Carrot
5 Snow Peas
1Baby Corn
1/2 Red Capsicum
1 packet of Tofu
2 Pieces of Broccolini

2 table spoons Soy Sauce
2 table spoon Garlic Infused Olive Oil
2 table spoons Peri Peri Sauce (I use mild, but choose your own heat intensity)
Small handful of Castor Sugar
Wild Rice

Roughly chop all ingredients.
On high, heat oil in a wok.
Whilst waiting for oil to heat, put wild rice into a pot of boiling water. Stir once, cover with lid, turn to low heat and cook for 15-20 minutes.
Put tofu, carrot and peri peri sauce into the wok to marinate for 2 minutes, stir occasionally.
Add the rest of the vegetables to the wok, stir frequently for 2 minutes.
Add soy sauce to the vegetables, leave for 1 minute.
Stir in sugar to the vegetables, after 1 minute, turn to low heat and stir occasionally.
Turn heat off and let the vegetables marinate in the sweet and salty sauce until rice is cooked.
When rice is cooked, plate up the rice and stir fry.
Optional: Garnish with some finely chopped red chilli for an extra kick

The Story:
After finishing high school, my grade decided to go on a service trip to rural Cambodia. We volunteered in an orphanage, painted classrooms, ran health clinics and built a house for a poor family. During our trip for one night we had the option to stay with a family in a poverty-stricken village.

The morning of our village stay with no idea what was about to happen we were led to the local markets. We were told that for the duration of our village stay, we would be cooking all the meals for ourselves and our family (that could include up to 10 children). The catch - we were only given US $2 to buy all our groceries. As the only female in my all boys group, automatically I was designated to be the cook. Unbeknown to my team, I had never cooked anything over than cup noodles in my life.

We wandered through the markets, bombarded with the smells and sights of fresh produce mixed with a town well below the poverty line. With the limited reassurance of my team, I bought any vegetable I could see that could feed our family of up to 16 people. Some carrots here, a capsicum there; I was out of my depth.

The day went by and we made our way to the village. Group by group we were allocated families, all the while I was praying not to get a family with 10 children. My group was called and led to our shack. I counted 1,2,3,4. Four teenage boys plus the mother and father, a family dependent on me to cook their only meal of the day, in a kitchen smaller than my wardrobe, built metres above the ground and with more holes than Swiss cheese. I immediately began to cry, I had no clue what I was doing or how to cook. Though she could not understand my words, the mother could understand my thoughts. She led me by the hand and began to show me how to cook stir fry.

It was there in that falling apart kitchen in a village in the middle of nowhere that I had my first cooking lesson from a mother who spoke not a word of English but gestured with love. My love affair with cooking began.

Why I should win:
My name is Karina, I am 19 and am studying to be a history/geography teacher. I've saved every penny I've earned and spent it on visiting 37 countries.
I'm addicted to travel. Exploring is how I get my fix. Culture entices me. Adventure invites me. To see the world is a desire that all consumes me. My favourite thing about travel is vibrancy of life I can experience - this includes food. If there is one thing in life that unites us, it is the global love of food. Since my Cambodian cooking experience, I have spent my travels gathering the best recipes I can find. From flavour rich carrot cakes in the Amazon to Nepalese curries that would make the Himalayas sweat; these recipes I have as souvenirs of my travels brought home to my kitchen. Something I love more than the recipes themselves are their origins, the stories they tell and the secrets in the techniques of preparing them.

My travel experience has me ready for anything that can be thrown at me, I will throw my heart and soul into the experience, the people I meet and the things I will learn. The things I will learn cannot be taught in any classroom and no book could tell of the tales I'll bring home.
I could never fully put into words what this opportunity would mean to me.This is a unique opportunity that I have to broaden my horizons and be immersed into a culture full of vibrant people, traditions and flavours. I could never afford an experience like this because to me its value is infinite.