Bringing Back Home the Flavours of Southeast Asia
In these times of restrictions, when those of us who are enthusiastic travellers have been grounded, we can still celebrate the memories of our favourite destinations in Southeast Asia by cooking in our own kitchen some of the dishes that we discovered on our travels.
The staple foods of this region include rice, noodles, chicken, fish, vegetables, fruits and a range of aromatic and delicious additions. Flavours burst from dishes with a squeeze of tangy lime juice, the inclusion of mint, coriander, basil and garlic, the heat of fiery red chillies, the subtlety of lemongrass, the spicy, woody aroma of ginger and the sweetness of palm sugar.
Marinades and sauces, such as soy, fish and peanut along with the distinctive taste of creamy coconut milk all combine to deliver wonderful flavours to any noodle, rice, soup, stew, or stir-fry dish.
For this food journey I have selected a sample of my favourite foods from Cambodia, Bali, Vietnam and Thailand. The following recipes have been adapted as often specialty ingredients have not been available. My preference is chicken so all the main dishes include chicken although beef, pork, fish or tofu can be substituted in any of the following recipes.
Chillies are often included in Asian dishes but due to personal preference I’ve not included them in my recipes. However, for those who like their food hot and spicy, they can be added to suit your taste. These recipes are not complicated; they are an easy and delicious way of sampling the tastes and aromas of Southeast Asian cuisine in your own kitchen.
Cambodia
We are in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. It is a city of the old world linking to years of French influence with its wide boulevards, historical architecture, grand temples and colonial buildings. While English is widely spoken, French is also a prominent language. The boulevard along the river front is lined with bars, cafes and restaurants offering a wide variety of authentic Asian food, and on this day, we are heading off in a tuk-tuk to the La Table Khmere Cooking School.
The class is located at the back of the La Table Khmere restaurant. Here we meet our cooking companions who are assembled at the stainless-steel benches, aprons on and ingredients displayed neatly in front of them. During the next three hours we are instructed into the finer points of traditional Khmer food preparation and cooking methods. We are cooking Fish Amok, the national dish of Cambodia, a green mango salad and a dessert. In preparation for our delicacy, we slice, shred, pound, pummel and grind an assortment of vegetables at a cracking pace as we keep up with the demonstration from the instructor.
When cooked, we plate up our Fish Amok into our specially prepared banana leaf plates and take our meal into the air-conditioned restaurant to eat with our new cooking friends. I bend to smell the heady aromas of my Fish Amok. My eyes begin to water as I take my first mouthful. Like a lightening flash, the fires of hell explode in my mouth and unleash a raging inferno. I have overdone the chillies and I think I am going to pass out!
The following Chicken Amok recipe is a variation on the Fish Amok, minus the chillies, and while it does not have the intense level of preparation that we used in the class, it is easy to make and tastes delicious:
Cambodian Chicken Amok
Serves 4
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1 400ml can full fat coconut milk
1 roughly chopped brown onion
Half a red capsicum chopped
3 cloves garlic peeled
2 tablespoon fresh ginger
2 tablespoons coriander
1 teaspoon lime juice
¼ cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil to blend paste
1 teaspoon fish or soy sauce
Method:
1. Put in a blender: roughly chopped onion, capsicum, garlic, ginger, coriander, lime juice, sugar, soy sauce and oil.
2. Blend until a smooth paste forms, adding a little extra oil if required.
3. Taste, adding slightly more sugar if required.
4. Pour into a cooking pot and sauté for 2 minutes over low-medium heat while stirring.
5. Add can of coconut milk and blend with the paste. Stir to combine.
6. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
7. While the sauce is simmering, chop the chicken into bite-size pieces and fry lightly until golden brown.
8. When chicken is cooked, transfer to the pot and stir through so that the chicken is coated in the sauce.
9. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
10. Serve with jasmine rice, lime wedges and a bowl of steamed green vegetables.
Dessert: Khmer Battered Bananas
Serves 4-5
Cooking time: 30 minutes
(Suitable for those who are gluten-intolerant, dairy-free or vegan)
This dish is not exclusive to Cambodia as a number of Asian countries make battered bananas in a similar way. These bananas can be also served for breakfast, afternoon tea or supper, especially when bananas are plentiful as they are quick and easy to prepare and delicious to eat.
Ingredients:
5 bananas (not over-ripe or they will go mushy)
½ cup rice flour
1 cup warm water
Oil for frying
Method:
1. Mix rice flour and warm water to a thin paste.
2. Cut bananas in half and then cut the halves lengthwise
3. Dip in the rice flour batter so that they are lightly coated (you will have 20 banana pieces).
4. Heat oil in a non-stick fry pan and when hot, fry coated bananas in batches turning as required.
5. When they are a deep golden brown they are cooked. You may need to add extra oil to the pan during the cooking process.
6. When cooked serve the bananas drizzled with maple syrup (or palm sugar) and coconut yoghurt. Ginger tea is a wonderful accompaniment to this dish.
Bali
We are at Café Wayan on Monkey Forest Road in Ubud. This café is a favorite eating place for many travellers and this is most evident as evening falls and queues of people are waiting for tables. Amid the tropical plants and potted greenery, the elegant wait staff in colourful traditional Balinese dress move gracefully through the café welcoming and seating guests.
Café Wayan, with its varied menu of Indonesian, Balinese and Western dishes, not to mention the heavenly desserts they serve from their small attached bakery, is one we return to whenever we are in Ubud. Our favorite time to go to Wayans is for brunch, in the quiet spell before the lunch crowds arrive.
Sitting at one of their tables near the pond with floating water lilies, surrounded by tropical foliage is the best place to enjoy their wonderful Soto Ayam (chicken noodle soup). It is a favorite dish and no matter where you eat in Bali, no Soto Ayam will be the same. Families have their own versions of how to make this soup which consists of noodles, chicken broth and shredded chicken, sometimes with a serve of rice on the side. The following is my recipe:
Soto Ayam (Chicken Noodle Soup)
Serves 4
Cooking time 30-40 minutes
Ingredients:
500g cooked chicken thigh fillets (shred when cooked)
5-6 cups chicken stock
1 medium brown onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic -peeled
3 teaspoons freshly chopped peeled ginger
½ cup fresh coriander
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon virgin olive oil
100g cooked vermicelli noodles
4 hard-boiled eggs cut in halves
2 cups bean sprouts washed and rinsed
Fried shallots (from Asian groceries)
Method
1. Put in a blender: Chopped onion, peeled garlic, chopped ginger, coriander, lime juice and olive oil and blend all ingredients until a smooth paste forms.
2. Heat paste mix in a non-stick pan until aromatic about 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the chicken stock and blend with the paste, stirring to combine.
4. Add shredded chicken while stirring to absorb the flavors. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Place cooked vermicelli noodles on the base of four serving bowls, and top with shredded chicken and bean sprouts.
Pour chicken soup over the noodles, shredded chicken and bean sprouts.
Decorate with freshly chopped coriander, fried shallots, and hard-boiled egg halves.
Serve with fresh limes and a bowl of rice.
It is a substantial meal in itself.
Another favourite available on dessert menus throughout Bali is Dadar Gulung – a thin rolled pandan pancake filled with a blended mixture of brown sugar, desiccated coconut and cinnamon. This pancake is best made in a crepe maker if you have one. If not, make sure the batter is not too thick as it will be difficult to roll once cooked.
Dadar Gulung (Coconut pancake)
Makes approx 16 pancakes.
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 beaten eggs
400ml can coconut milk
½ teaspoon pandan coloring (this will make the pancake turn green – it can be bought at Asian groceries)
Filling
¾ cup dark brown sugar
1½ cups desiccated coconut
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup water to mix
Method:
1. Combine flour, beaten eggs, coconut milk and pandan flavouring, mixing well so that there are no lumps and the green pandan colouring is evenly distributed throughout the mix.
2. In a non-stick lightly-greased pan add small quantities of pancake mix and cook until done.
3. Mix dark brown sugar, coconut, cinnamon and water until well combined.
4. Place cooked pancake on a dish and spread a teaspoon of the coconut mix in the centre of the flat pancake.
5. Fold the sides of the pancake and then roll it into a parcel containing the coconut mix in the centre. If the pancake is too thick, you may have to fold it over in half, otherwise it is likely to break. Repeat the process for the rest of the pancakes.
6. Serve with vanilla yoghurt or a scoop of ice-cream.
Vietnam
We are in Ho Chi Minh City – or Saigon as most travellers still call it. As the sun sets on the heat of the day, we head for the Ben Thahn night market looking out for the lady who owns a small Banh Mi cart. Banh Mi is happiness wrapped up in a crispy bread roll and judging by the explosion of its popularity outside of Vietnam many others think so too.
Banh Mi emerged from the food culture of early French colonialism in Vietnam after the French introduced the baguette. As a matter of necessity, the Vietnamese adapted the baguette to suit their own needs, and the Banh Mi arrived.
She is near the Ben Thahn roundabout, that disorganised and unpredictable intersection where many roads meet and every manner of traffic converges. Somehow in the chaos of what occurs at that roundabout, wobbly push carts laden with goods heading for the market, motor cycles, cars, tourist buses and pedestrians risking life and limb manage to negotiate their way through that crazy crossing to wherever they are heading.
The lady sees us coming and places two blue plastic chairs onto the pavement along with a little unsteady table next to her cart. We are her regular customers. Her young daughter manages the drink stand and has two iced lemon teas ready, and so we sit on those blue plastic chairs, in the heat of a Saigon night, on the edge of chaos. Sipping our iced lemon tea, we enjoy the most delicious Banh Mi ever made as we watch the never-ending entertainment that is the chaos and disbelief of the Ben Thanh roundabout.
Banh Mi – so easy to assemble:
1 large Vietnamese crunchy bread roll split down the centre
Spread with chicken or pork pate and mayonnaise
Add shredded cooked chicken
Strips of cucumber
Shredded carrot
Coriander sprigs and chili if desired
Lightly top with sweet chili sauce and/or soy sauce
Enjoy!
Thailand
We are in Bangkok, that city of stunning shrines and cosmopolitan street life. Here it’s not hard to find a café selling Mango Sticky Rice or street vendors with mangoes hanging randomly from their stalls with freshly sliced mango ready to go. It is a popular, traditional dessert. And that’s a good thing because there is only one rule that applies on this trip; Mango Sticky Rice has to be eaten every day.
It’s hard to believe there can be so many subtle variations to what is essentially a very simple dessert, but throughout our many tastings, deciding whether a dish is given a top ranking depends on the sweetness and the amount of mango, the quality of the sticky rice and whether the coconut milk is wholesome or a watered down version which rapidly plummets the ranking.
However, it is the unexpected variations that are surprising, and this includes the presentation of the dish complete with frangipani flowers. In Chinatown where street food is prevalent, stands assemble sliced mango and sticky rice into takeaway containers with coconut milk in tiny plastic pouches. The popularity of these stalls is evident as people walk away with their treats in plastic bags.
At a nearby café, it is a shock to see a plate of green sticky rice arrive, until the waitress explains that it is flavored with pandan essence, hence the green coloring. One creative street vendor displays a whirl of sticky rice in rainbow hues of orange, yellow, pink, green, purple and blue rice layered on palm leaves. Choose any three colors to go with your mango and coconut milk and you are ready to go.
Another offering is Mango Sticky Rice ice-cream on a stick with its subtle mango flavor and the richness of coconut milk; a delicious variation. But, can you ever have too much of a good thing? Well, yes. What started out as a good idea, to eat Mango Sticky Rice every day, gradually gave way to “Oh no, not another Mango Sticky Rice stall!” As our time for leaving Bangkok draws near our resolve gradually diminished. Even the delicious Mango Sticky Rice has its limitations.
Mango Sticky Rice with Coconut Milk
If fresh mangoes are not available, sticky rice works well with many other fruits. Try poached pears, peaches, plums or apricots.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 cup of glutinous or sticky rice (available from Asian groceries)
¾ cup of full fat coconut milk
2 tablespoons sugar
Method:
1. Place 1 cup of glutinous rice in a bowl and cover with 3 cups of hot water.
2. Allow to soak in the hot water for three hours.
3. Drain the rice, rinsing until the water runs clear.
4. Place rice in a steamer and cook for 25 minutes or until rice is tender.
5. Warm the coconut milk and dissolve the sugar. Taste for sweetness.
6. Pour the coconut milk over the sticky rice and serve with sliced mango or fruit of your choice.
Can be served hot or cold. One cup of rice will make 2 cups of sticky rice. Keep rice covered so that it does not dry out.
The selection of these dishes and the cooking of them was a journey within itself. It has reconnected us to the memories of the many people we have met on our overland journeys through Southeast Asia. The vegetable sellers, the food markets, the man with the pineapple stand and the lady with the basket of bread rolls.
The aromas of delicious street food have all re-created, if only in our minds, the special times we have spent in Cambodia, Bali, Vietnam and Thailand. In times to come, when we are free of restrictions, we will again find our way back to experiencing the cuisines and cultures of Southeast Asia.
Header image: © Jillian Huntley
