Cookery lesson

Last week, I joined some tourists for a Khmer cookery lesson. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and wish I’d done it sooner. I now know what some of the strange items in the market are, how to prepare them and how they can be deliciously cooked together. During the day, I learned how to make spring rolls, cambodian chicken curry, fish amok (my favourite Khmer meal, beautifully served in a banana leaf cup) and a desert of coconut, banana and tapioca.
Since the course, I have bought fish from the market – finally! I was always too squeamish to buy fish before, as mostly they are still alive and thrashing about. Also, I am a product of an academic school which didn’t have home economics on the curriculum, so I had no idea how to cook fish unless it was prepared and wrapped in cling film! I have started buying things I didn’t even notice in the market before – galangal, kaffir lime, morning glory, fish sauce and lemon grass. I’m even eyeing up the meat (every part of the animal is available, including pig faces and cow hooves, and covered in flies unless you buy it at 6 a.m.), and trying to work up the courage to buy some of that soon!