CAMBODIA AND VIETNAM

… AND I TOOK THE ONE LESS TRAVELLED BY

No guidebook can prepare you for Phnom Penh. This Cambodian city is small enough to navigate on foot, but energetic enough to lose yourself in amongst the throngs of people all trying to regain some sort of normality and to rebuild their lives after years of neglect, wars with Vietnam and the murderous regime of Pol Pot, better known as Brother No. 1.

It was amongst this chaos that Cambodia first entered my life in the early 1990s – a country morbidly fascinated by death, dedicating monuments made from human skulls to the memory of fallen comrades. One year Tina Scotford and I had decided to travel across Cambodia by any means possible, and our trip included a stint on the back of an ex-Khmer Rouge soldier’s motorbike, a nine-hour canal journey on a long tail boat designed for three, and the world famous bamboo train.

With regular trains falling victim to years of neglect and war, locals had come up with a solution: a simple bamboo platform randomly placed on top of narrow-gauge train wheels, propelled to 65 kilometres per hour by a lawnmower engine. Passengers sit in rows with legs crossed in the lotus position, while motorbikes and bicycles get loaded behind for the 30-kilometre trip down the neglected track. The train heads off down the single track at an alarming speed and with the real possibility of meeting an oncoming train. The rule of thumb is that whoever has the smaller load has to unload everything and remove the bamboo and wheels from the track to let the heavier load pass. Then everything gets reassembled and the journey continues.

Flying through the jungle, wind in my hair, with three motorbikes and all our luggage loaded randomly onto the platform behind me seemed like a good idea at the time but, looking back, I realise that some years we may have needed more than just one guardian angel to watch over us.

Lok lak chicken with kampot pepper

Lok lak is as close to a national dish as you can get in Cambodia. The secret of this aromatic dish is the Kampot pepper, widely regarded as the finest black pepper in the world. Generations of French colonialists farmed black pepper, exporting it to restaurants in Europe while reserving only the very best for the chefs in Paris. The industry witnessed some turbulent years with the arrival of the Khmer Rouge, but today Kampot pepper is again widely available throughout Cambodia, packaged beautifully in hand woven baskets and sold by the kilogram to cooks and tourists alike.

Pepper sauce

• 60 ml (¹⁄₄ C) fish sauce
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) sugar
• 2.5 ml (¹⁄₂ tsp) salt
• 10 ml (2 tsp) freshly ground black pepper (preferably Kampot)
• 2–3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) lime or lemon juice

Lok lak

• 500 g chicken fillets (or beef cubes)
• 10 ml (2 tsp) sugar
• 2.5 ml (¹⁄₂ tsp) salt
• 3 red, hot chillies, seeded and chopped
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) sunflower or canola oil
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) soy sauce
• 60 ml (¹⁄₄ C) oyster sauce
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) fish sauce
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) tomato sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 10–15 ml (2–3 tsp) fresh black peppercorns (preferably Kampot)
• Extra 15 ml (1 Tbsp) sunflower oil
• 1 onion, sliced

To serve

• Cooked rice noodles
• Lettuce leaves
• Slices of tomato
• Slices of onion

1. To make the sauce, mix all the ingredients together, except for the lime juice, and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add as much garlic and black pepper as you like. The lime juice gets added shortly before serving. Set aside
2. To make the lok lak, combine the chicken with the sugar, salt, chillies, oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, tomato sauce and crushed garlic. Mix well and leave to marinate for 30 minutes. Heat a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat and tip in the peppercorns. Give the saucepan a good shake and leave the peppercorns to brown and to release their flavour. Push the peppercorns to one side, add the extra oil and the onion. Sauté the onion until golden, incorporating the black peppercorns. Add the chicken and stir-fry for a few minutes or until the meat is cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning.
3. Just before serving, squeeze the lime juice into the pepper sauce. Arrange the cooked rice noodles and lettuce leaves attractively on a platter with the slices of tomato and raw onion. To eat, wrap the meat in a lettuce leaf along with a slice of tomato and onion and dip into the pepper sauce.

Serves 4–6.

TIPS

• If you ever get to Cambodia, stock up on black pepper as it will keep in an airtight container for many years. However, it is possible to find small quantities of Kampot pepper in Europe and the United Kingdom or through online purchases. Alternatively, use any good black pepper found in South Africa. The world’s largest pepper producer today is Vietnam.

• Lok lak can be made with chicken or beef. Add a little chilli powder to the marinade for added punch. Sirloin or rump steak is excellent for this dish.

• Use a wok if you own one.

Pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup)

Pho noodle soup is the ultimate advertisement for Vietnamese street food. This humble broth has claimed its spot in world cuisine and is very popular today. There are as many versions of this famous soup as there are noodle bars in Ho Chi Minh City. Toothless old women cook up family treasures passed down through the generations and serve them to tourists and locals alike. It was at one of these little plastic eateries that I first fell in love with star anise, the secret ingredient of pho.

• 450 g cooked flat rice noodles
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) sunflower or canola oil
• 2 large onions, quartered
• 10 cm knob fresh ginger, thinly sliced
• 2 kg beef soup bones
• 800 g–1 kg beef brisket, or any other inexpensive cut
• 3.5 litres water
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) brown sugar or palm sugar
• 60 ml (¹⁄₄ C) Vietnamese fish sauce (nuoc mam) or Thai fish sauce
• 5 ml (1 tsp) salt
• 10 ml (2 tsp) freshly ground black pepper
• 2–3 large sticks cinnamon
• 5 ml (1 tsp) coriander seeds, lightly crushed
• 12–15 pieces star anise
• 10–12 dried cloves

To serve

• 1 × 80 g packet baby spinach
• 1 × 150 g punnet bean sprouts
• 5 spring onions, sliced diagonally
• ¹⁄₂ small onion, thinly sliced and fried until golden brown
• 125 ml (¹⁄₂ C) fresh coriander leaves
• 125 ml (¹⁄₂ C) fresh mint leaves
• 4–5 large red chillies or bird’s-eye chillies, seeded and julienned
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 small limes or 1 large lemon, quartered and pips removed

1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet and set aside. It doesn’t matter if they become cold as the warm broth will instantly reheat the noodles when served.
2. Heat the oil in a large, deep saucepan or stockpot and sauté the onions and ginger until a dark caramel colour. Add the soup bones and brisket and continue to brown gently for 8–10 minutes, stirring from time to time to prevent the meat from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. Add the water, increase the heat and bring to the boil. Using a large slotted spoon, remove any scum as it rises to the surface. Reduce the heat and add the sugar, fish sauce, salt, black pepper, cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds, star anise and cloves. Cook over medium heat for 45 minutes.
3. Remove the brisket from the saucepan and slice the meat from the bone into very thin strips. Set aside. Return the brisket bones to the saucepan and continue to cook for a further 45–60 minutes or until the stock is flavoursome. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add a little more fish sauce or salt if needed. Remove from the heat and strain to get rid of any whole spices, scum and bones. Return the stock and reserved brisket to the saucepan and heat through. Remember, a good soup takes time to cook so take it slow and stir from time to time.
4. To serve, line up a few serving bowls and place a large dollop of the cooked noodles in the bottom of each. Top with baby spinach, bean sprouts, spring onions and sliced fried onion. Divide the sliced meat equally between the serving bowls and ladle the hot broth over the noodles. Top with fresh coriander leaves, mint leaves, sliced chillies and black pepper. Serve with a quarter of fresh lime to be squeezed over the dish just before eating. Don’t leave this step out as it is the most important flavour of this dish.

Serves 4–6.

TIPS

• Pho is best served using large, flat, white rice noodles, but it can be enjoyed with any regular rice or egg noodle. For this recipe the quantity I have given is for cooked noodles, not dried.

• This soup is all about the beef: choose an inexpensive cut to add to the stockpot and that can be sliced up later into thin strips. Some recipes still call for fillet of beef, but that’s a little extravagant in today’s terms and obviously a very French touch from an altogether bygone era.

• Baby spinach is not traditional by any means, but I add it to my pho just before serving to give the soup an added dimension.

Chà giò (Vietnamese crab, pork and mushroom spring rolls)

Vietnamese spring rolls are synonymous with Vietnamese cuisine but, unlike their Chinese cousins, they are made from rice paper and can be prepared either fresh or deep-fried. The pastry is far lighter and crispier than Chinese spring roll pastry. Commercially prepared rice paper wrappers will keep for up to a year. Purchase these at any good speciality Asian food store and selected supermarkets. Phyllo pastry can be substituted for rice paper wrappers or use frozen Chinese spring roll pastry. Remember to roll the wrappers tightly, like mini cigars.

Dipping sauce

• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) sugar
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) lemon juice
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) fish sauce
• 1 clove garlic, sliced
• 2 large red chillies, chopped
• 5 ml (1 tsp) freshly ground black pepper

Spring rolls

• 25 g dried rice noodles
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) canola oil
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 5 large spring onions, chopped
• 1 small carrot, peeled and julienned
• 175 g pork mince
• 100 g flaked white crab or whole peeled baby shrimps
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) fish sauce
• 5 ml (1 tsp) chilli flakes (optional)
• 2.5 ml (¹⁄₂ tsp) white pepper
• 100 g finely chopped button mushrooms
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) chopped fresh mint
• 12–15 dried rice papers, 20 cm in diameter or frozen Chinese spring roll wrappers, thawed
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• Sunflower or canola oil for deep-frying
• Butter lettuce, salad leaves, fresh mint, Thai basil and coriander to serve

1. Make the dipping sauce first. Combine the sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved completely. Add the fish sauce, garlic and chillies, stir well and add the pepper. Leave to stand and infuse for 30 minutes before using.
2. To make the spring rolls, bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil, reduce the heat, add the rice noodles and simmer for 6–8 minutes. Drain and cut the noodles into finger-length pieces using kitchen scissors. Set aside.
3. Heat the 15 ml (1 Tbsp) oil in a large frying pan or wok and sauté the garlic, spring onions, carrot, pork mince and crab for 6–8 minutes or until the pork is cooked and no longer pink. Remove from the heat and add the fish sauce, chilli flakes and white pepper. Stir in the mushrooms, mint and the prepared noodles. Set aside to cool.
4. Fill a bowl with a little warm water. Take one sheet of rice paper at a time, dip it into the water and place it on a clean work surface to soften, leaving it for about 20 seconds. Place a generous tablespoon of filling near the bottom of the wrapper. Fold up the side nearest you by one-third, then fold the remaining three sides into the centre to cover the filling, like an envelope. Carefully start rolling the wrapper from the bottom up to form a tight cigar. Secure the edge with a little brushed egg white. Repeat until you have used up all the filling. Place the prepared rolls on a dinner plate and leave to rest, uncovered, in the fridge for 1 hour or until they are dry. This is done to prevent the rolls from spattering when you add them to the hot oil.
5. If using the thicker Chinese spring roll wrappers, keep the pastry covered with a damp tea towel to prevent it from drying out while working. Using one sheet at a time, place a tablespoon of filling at the bottom. Fold the sides in and roll up to make a tight cigar. Secure the edges with a little egg white or cornflour paste.
6. Deep-fry the spring rolls in moderately hot oil until golden brown. Ensure the oil is not too hot as the pastry is very thin and will burn easily. Drain on absorbent paper towel.
7. To serve, arrange the spring rolls on a plate and garnish with butter lettuce, salad leaves, fresh mint, Thai basil and coriander. Wrap the spring rolls and herbs inside a lettuce leaf and dip into the fish dipping sauce.

The filling makes enough for 12–15 spring rolls.

TIP

This dipping sauce is fantastic as a dressing for salads, fresh and fried spring rolls or as a dip for braaied pork or shrimps. It will keep for a few days in the fridge.

Cambodian caramel pork with rice noodles and mint

Everywhere you walk in Phnom Penh, the sweet smell of grilled pork fills the air. Food stalls line the wide avenues and riverbanks and you can be forgiven for wanting to eat all day. The pork is usually grilled and served with a plate of noodles and a variety of garnishes and dipping sauces, which are as important as the meat itself. If time permits I prefer to braai or grill the pork as the marinade produces a lovely caramel flavour. Here I have simplified the recipe using a heavy-bottomed skillet.

• 500 g pork neck, sliced (no bones)
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) sunflower or canola oil

Marinade

• 3 spring onions, chopped
• ¹⁄₂ small onion, grated
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) fish sauce
• 3 large cloves garlic, crushed
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) brown sugar
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) soy sauce
• 10 ml (2 tsp) oyster sauce
• 2.5 ml (¹⁄₂ tsp) salt
• 5 ml (1 tsp) freshly ground black pepper

Sweet dipping sauce

• ¹⁄₂ small carrot, julienned
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) rice vinegar
• 5 ml (1 tsp) granulated sugar
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) castor sugar
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) fish sauce
• 60 ml (¹⁄₄ C) water
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 red chillies, seeded and sliced
• Pinch of salt
• 2.5 ml (¹⁄₂ tsp) freshly ground black pepper

To serve

• 1 large butter lettuce, washed
• 1 large cucumber, peeled and cut into thick julienne strips
• 250 ml (1 C) fresh mint leaves
• Rice vermicelli noodles, cooked according to instructions on the packet and cooled
• Chopped spring onions to garnish

1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a small bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the pork and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
2. While the pork is marinating, make the dipping sauce. Combine the carrot, rice vinegar and granulated sugar in a small bowl. Leave to ferment for 30 minutes. Strain and discard any remaining vinegar. Add the carrot to the remaining dipping sauce ingredients and stir until the castor sugar has dissolved. Taste to adjust the seasoning.
3. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed cast-iron skillet or a wok and sauté the pork for 5–6 minutes until cooked. Remove from the heat and transfer to a large serving platter.
4. Arrange the lettuce, cucumber and mint alongside the pork. Neatly place the cooked, drained noodles on the platter and garnish with spring onions. To eat, wrap the noodles, pork and mint leaves in butter lettuce and roll up like a wrap. Serve with the sweet dipping sauce.

Serves 4–6.

TIPS

• Use any good quality Thai fish sauce as a substitute for the Vietnamese variety, but bear in mind that it could be a little stronger and saltier than its Vietnamese or Cambodian cousin. When cooking with fish sauce, there is no need to add a lot of salt as fish sauce is the replacement for salt in all Southeast Asian cookery.

• Use pork neck for this dish as it has a little fat, adding to the flavour. It is also an inexpensive cut of meat. Leaner pork fillet can also be used.

Green mango salad

Traditionally this salad is made with green mango, but a large Chinese radish (daikon) works just as well. Any variety of unripe mango can be used, so long as it is julienned into fine matchsticks. Nowadays, tools are available at speciality kitchen stores for just this purpose and investing in one of these will save you hours of preparation. The salad will keep for a day or two in the fridge.

NUOC MAM (FISH SAUCE)

Like many Southeast Asian countries, Vietnam produces its own fish sauce from the juice of fermented salty fish. It is used in practically all vietnamese cookery and is to Southeast Asia what soy sauce is to China. Taste can differ according to the region or variety of fish and recipes remain closely guarded family secrets. Layers of fish and salt are left to marinate and ferment for three months in large wooden barrels. The fermented liquid is then extracted and poured back into the barrel, leaving it to mature like any good wine. Nuoc mam is said to improve with age, encouraging the belief that the best fish sauce should have the colour of a good whiskey.

Mango salad

• 1 large green mango
• 1 large carrot
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) roughly chopped raw unsalted peanuts (no skins)

Dressing

• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) sugar
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) fish sauce
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) fresh lime or lemon juice
• 2 large green or red chillies, seeded and sliced
• 125 ml (¹⁄₂ C) chopped fresh coriander
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. To make the salad, peel and julienne the mango flesh into matchsticks. Repeat with the carrot. Combine the two in a small bowl and add the peanuts. Mix well.
2. To make the dressing, dissolve the sugar in the fish sauce, stirring continuously until all the granules have dissolved. Add the lime juice, chillies and coriander. Season lightly with black pepper. Set aside to marinate for 20 minutes.
3. Pour the dressing over the salad and use your hands to mix the salad very well, working the peanuts and dressing through the slices. Set aside for 30 minutes before serving, to allow the flavours to infuse the mango.
4. Serve as part of a greater Vietnamese meal or eat on its own as a salad.

Serves 2–4.

VARIATION

• Use the same salty dressing with a salad of ripe mango and ¹⁄₂ small cucumber or small pineapple, and 2 small chopped tomatoes.

TIPS

• Fibreless mangoes are best for this recipe. Supermarkets often have unripe mangoes in cold storage and you are likely to find them most of the time. Lime juice will give the salad a sharper taste; only use lemon juice if you are unable to find limes.

• Substitute green pawpaw (papaya) or Chinese radish for mango, but do not eat green pawpaw if you are pregnant.

• Limes are notoriously difficult to grow but are readily available in South Africa. The variety most commonly associated with Southeast Asian cookery is the kaffir lime. Imported from abroad, it is now possible to purchase the variety at specialised nurseries in South Africa.

Fresh rice paper spring rolls with tuk trey dipping sauce

Fresh spring rolls stuffed with crisp vegetables and herbs can be prepared with the addition of cooked chicken, pork or shrimp. The crisp, sun-dried pastry is often hand made from rice flour throughout Vietnam and Cambodia. Entire families spend generation after generation plying their trade, making up to a few thousand sheets a month, after which it eventually finds its way to the markets and from there to destinations around the world. Thailand produces a very similar quality rice paper and these are the brands we are more likely to find in South Africa.

Spring rolls

• 12 round rice paper wrappers
• 1 lettuce, cleaned and leaves separated
• 2 carrots, peeled and julienned
• 1 small English cucumber, julienned
• 5 spring onions, trimmed and halved lengthways
• 150 g bean sprouts
• 250 ml (1 C) fresh mint leaves
• 250 ml (1 C) fresh coriander leaves

Tuk trey dipping sauce

• 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 3 large red chillies, seeded and chopped
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) sugar
• Juice of 1 large lemon or lime
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) fish sauce (nuoc mam)
• 60 ml (¹⁄₄ C) water
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) chopped unsalted raw peanuts (no skins)

1. Make the spring rolls first. Work with one rice paper wrapper at a time. Dip the wrapper into a bowl of lukewarm water to soften. Transfer immediately to a clean work surface and leave to stand for about 20 seconds. Certain homemade rice paper wrappers are thinner than others so use your discretion when applying the moisture. If in doubt, follow the instructions on the packet.
2. Make a straight edge by folding over about 2 cm of the wrapper on the right-hand side, all the way down. Place a piece of lettuce on the rice paper, towards the bottom, with the frilly side towards the straight edge. Add a few pieces of carrot, cucumber, spring onion, bean sprouts, mint and coriander neatly on top. Fold the bottom flap upwards. Start rolling, holding the filling in place as you work and folding over the left side of the roll until complete. It should be neat and firm, with an opening on one side. Repeat until you have used up all the ingredients. Arrange on a serving platter.
3. To make the dipping sauce, use a pestle and mortar to pound the garlic, chillies and sugar to make a smooth paste. Add the lemon juice, fish sauce and water. Add the peanuts for texture. Serve with the spring rolls.

Serves 4–6.

TIPS

• If you are adding any meat or shrimp, lightly season and sauté the strips of meat beforehand. Set aside to cool before using.

• Any mixed salad leaves will do the trick when making these magnificent little rolls. Experiment with different varieties and even try baby spinach. Always break off the stems.

• Take note that the same method is not used for rolling deep-fried spring rolls as they are usually much smaller and thinner than the fresh rolls and all the sides need to be sealed.