Food

APAD 076: Budget vegetarian meal

Posted by The Insider on May 26, 2011 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, food, sights, Signs | 10 comments

Whoever thought of this is brilliant. This is a monster hit not only for the locals but also for expats. For only 3000riels (US $1=4000riels), you have three vegetarian viands of your choice and rice. It comes with bottomless hot tea as well. Not bad.

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APAD 070: Lotus seeds

Posted by The Insider on May 18, 2011 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, food, Wordful Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday | 6 comments

Above are the round and raised lotus blossoms but my Khmer friends call them seed “heads”. *Pods would have been the right word* The lotus seeds are inside and, yes, they are edible.

Lotus flowers not only adorn the altars of Khmer temples and shrines, they are also served in dishes at dinner tables. Lotus flowers are beautiful and trigger feelings of happiness and calm and they are also prized ingredients in Khmer cuisine. As a matter of fact, most of the lotus parts are edible, including the roots. They are often served as salads or an ingredient in Khmer soups and stir-fry dishes. Some adventurous cooks have incorporated lotus seeds in other dishes and baked products nowadays.

But today, it’s all about the seeds.

An average blossom has about 20-30 lotus seeds, above. They are green (when unripe) and rubbery, about the size of peanuts, edible and eaten like nuts. You can easily dig the seeds with your fingers when they are ripe.

Cambodians love to eat them fresh as snack when they are ripe. They pop it into their mouths like pop corns!

This is to show you what’s inside the seed. I sampled the fresh seeds and I couldn’t say I like or dislike it. It tasted like raw peanuts though, in case you want to know.

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APAD 068: A simple mango relish, Khmer-style

Posted by The Insider on May 16, 2011 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, food, Mellow Yellow Monday | 5 comments

This is a very refreshing side dish, great with grilled fish. Delectable mango strips with fish sauce, lime juice, a bit of palm sugar, red shallots, and lots of chillies, of course.

APAD 061: Winter melons in Cambodia

Posted by The Insider on May 9, 2011 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, food, Mellow Yellow Monday | 6 comments

Took this photo using my old Kodak Instamatic camera. When the negatives were printed, most of the prints have this yellow colouring on them. I wonder why.

Winter melons look like cucumber, only they are larger in size and paler in skin (peeling). Often used as a vegetable when unripe (used in soups) and eaten as a fruit when it’s already ripe and sweet. Winter melons are commonly grown in rural Cambodia, especially those near the river banks.

APAD 047: Fruit of the season

Posted by The Insider on Apr 25, 2011 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, food, Mellow Yellow Monday | 6 comments

This is called khnao in Khmer language, or jackfruit in English, and jackfruit trees are in season now in Cambodia. We also have this fruit in the Philippines and we call it langka.

If I am not mistaken, the jackfruit is the world’s largest fruit. It is commonly eaten when it is ripe – when it develops a very strong sweet odour – and has a sweet flavour. It can also be eaten when unripe, as a vegetable. As you can see, the spiky skin of the fruit has segments of yellow flesh underneath it, and each surrounds a large seed. The seeds can be boiled and eaten, too. I’m not really fond of jackfruit but I do like it when it is made into a smoothie.