At The Family Duck Farm - Mongkol Borei, Cambodia

Duck, Duck and No Goose

I really wanted to kill a chicken or duck.  I’m not really sure why, but as an avid meat eater, I felt it was my responsibility to experience the process it took to bring a hunk a meat to my kitchen table. When the opportunity presented itself, I knew this was my chance to come face to face, mano y mano with one of my favorite foods and kill a feathered foul.  I must admit, when I agreed to do it, I only had one fear. I feared that I would get so traumatized by the gore that I would never want to eat fried chicken again.  The thought of losing my love of breaded chicken skin really spooked me. But, if I were to do this, what better place than the family duck farm.

Fish eggs for a salty omelet

The good news is, after the deed was done, I still loved me some poultry.  In fact (this may sound a bit morbid), my love for fouls intensified after the whole affair.  I won’t go into details about how I did it (slashed the throat, making sure to reserve each drop of blood for a savory soup) or how I defeathered the bird (apparently, you have to dip the bird in boiling hot water for easy removal of feathers). But as the bird’s eyeballs rolled up to the heavens for the final time, it looked as if the animal said “Good bye, my worthy opponent. I hope my tasty meat gives you pleasure.” 

Of course, it was then that I HAD to make sure that we honored its death with a proper delicious meal.  Lucky for me, since I’ve already experienced my relatives’ cooking for a solid month now, a proper delicious meal was inevitable.   The menu included, my cousin Mayne’s succulent whole chicken including the organs (as a lover innards, this was a special treat) roasted on a bed of banana blossom leaves (we ate a version of this at a restaurant outside of Phnom Pehn, he stated that it was okay if you’ve never had real chicken), balut eggs (fertilized duck embryo boiled alive and eaten in the shell) with a delicious lime pepper sauce, coca cola garlic glazed whole duck (plus innards),   fish eggs omelet served with a spread of crunchy crudités, and Cambodian Hot Pot.

You know how at every dinner party someone always ask “what would you eat as your last meal?”.   After that day, I felt like I got to experience every item on my “last meal” list.  With every chicken bone I got to gnaw on and every balut egg I slurped, I remember saying to myself “god, I am ready to visit your pearly gates”. Yes, the ingredients on paper were humble and the preparation was rustic, but the spice of soul permeated through each dish and created a flavor profile you can only find in the middle of some mapless village in Cambodia.   As I sat at my uncle’s wobbly hand me down table looking over what I’ve eaten and what I have yet to consume with my grandfather’s rice paddy as a backdrop, I knew if I did have to go to the electric chair for some absurd crime I’ve committed, at least my belly would have died a happy camper.    

All the fixins for a scrump duck embryo

Cola Glazed Sticky Wings

Sticky, spicy and sweet

I know that cola braised poultry is typically done in Chinese cooking, but since I discovered this technique on my family's duck farm in Cambodia, I'm gonna call it a Khmer dish (with my own person spin, of course). :)

Ingredients

 

12 wings

1 can of cola (regular, not diet)

2 tablespoon of grapeseed oil

2 cloves of garlic

2 inch knob of ginger

2 tbls of sambal sauce

2 tbls of soy sauce

2 tbls of oyster sauce

1/4 cup of brown sugar

Directions

 

1.  Heat oil in very hot pan

2.  Once oil is hot, brown wings

3.  Remove wings, drain oil and wipe pan dry

4.  Add cola, sliced garlic, sliced ginger, sambal sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce and brown sugar

5.  Wait until cola mixture is boiling and has thicken

6.  Add wings, turning frequently. Will burn easily.

7.  Once wings are cooked, in a separate oiled and heated pan, sear wings again to get a nice char. Set aside.

8.  Keep the sauce on heat, until desired thickness

9.  Toss wings with sauce, serve immediately.

    



Mongkol Borei Crab Boil – Mongkol Borei, Cambodia

Here, fishy, fishy!

I experienced a lot of pinch worthy moments while traveling, and the first day in my parents' hometown of Mongkol Borei is definitely in the top three.  What I thought would be a simple fishing day at a nearby pond, Andy Griffin style, complete with happy-go-lucky whistling,  turned out to be a roller coaster ride on a motorbike down yet another ditch ridden dirt road in Cambodia. 

After my visit to the neighborhood market, my cousin asked me if I wanted to go fishing.  Never to turn down an offer to go on any excursion, I enthusiastically said yes. A half an hour later she swung by the house accompanied by two friends  perched on her very small motorbike.  She ordered her friends to make room and provided me with a centimeter of seat space. I let out a "only in Cambodia" sigh, hopped on and off we went!

A calm start to our bumpy journey

I wasn't sure where exactly, but I  quickly learned that when you're in Cambodia, all you can do is cross your fingers and hope for the best.  It was rainy season, so ten minutes into our journey, we were greeted with sheets of rain that quickly collected into a massive pool of water that engulfed a drowning motorbike with a napolean complex.  

"I guess we should turn around?" 

"No, my bike is stronger than his." 

The two bikes looked identical to me.

"Um, maybe there is an alternate..."  

Before I was able to finish my sentence, she revved up her engine and stepped on the gas.  Unprepared for this sudden jolt, I grabbed onto friend #2 to keep from toppling over.  With a squeal and a little prayer, not only did we manage to cruise to the other side, but also received our second bath of the day. 

Eventually I overcame the fact that we were a party of four on a tiny two wheeled vehicle miraculously coasting over random gullies and started to appreciate the beautiful scenery zipping by - vast lands of green lush rice paddies with oceanless palm trees sprouting in random areas of the field. 

The only thing I caught that day

When we finally reached   our destination, I was beyond excited to see multiple small straw bungalows suspended over water, held up by long stalks of dried bamboo. It was a Robin Crusoe adventure wonderland realized.  The “fishing park” was a buzz with locals napping in fabric hammocks, stereos blaring old love songs, people gossiping about the latest neighborhood news and of course, people fishing.  On top of that, there was plenty of food.  Vendors were selling kettle corn, beef jerky skewers, and my favorite, river snails and baby crabs steamed with beer.  This may sound a bit odd, but I don’t think it’s the taste that gets me excited about crab and snail.  I think it’s the obstacle of prying out the meat with any instrument that would suffice.  With the snails, you have to use a wooden toothpick and with a savvy flick of the wrist, pluck the mollusk out of its shell.  With crab, you simply crack it in half using brute strength and suck each crevice of the body and leg until you get something edible.  It may be too troublesome for most to endure such a tedious process only to be rewarded with minuscule pieces of meat, but I loved it. Maybe because it gave me a reason to get my hands dirty and play with food.

Better than peanuts

Beer Steamed Tamarind Chili Dungeness Crab

 

No snails or baby crabs here, but dungeness crab will do just fine.  

Say hello to my orange friend. Approximately 1 two pound crab per person. 

Ingredients

     1 two pound Dungeness crab

     1 bottle of red ale beer

     3 scallions, finely chopped

     3 red chili peppers, finely chopped

     3 tablespoons of peanut oil

     1 large handful of roughly chopped cilantro leaves

     4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

     ½ inch knob of ginger, finely chopped

 For the Sauce

     2 tablespoons of tamarind

     1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce

     1 ½ tablespoon of fish sauce

    

Directions

1.  Pour beer in pot and place steamer basket with crab on top.

2.  Steam crab for approximately 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3.  Once cooled, pull a part crab and clean. Remove legs, crack shell to loosen meat.  Cut body of crab into smaller pieces.

4.  Add oil to wok.  Once hot, add ginger and garlic. Stir fry until fragrant. Add crab pieces and allow it to cook for approximately 5 minutes.

5.  Add chopped chili and the white part of the scallions to wok. Toss sauce in with crab.

6.  Top with green part of scallions and cilantro. Serve immediately.