Cooking Khmer Style

Stephen and I decided to take a Cambodian cooking class one morning. This involved choosing three dishes to cook, buying the items at the local market and somehow throwing them all together to make a tasty dish! The trip to the market was an experience. So far on our travels I have walked through the meat and fish sections of markets very quickly. This time we paused, selected and took our time ( to my senses dismay!) Our chef selected a LIVE fish and we watched the woman batter it and skin it. Fortunately our chicken was already dead but the woman was cleaning out intestines for soup! The Cambodians do eat everything, from the eyes to the bladder. This may be because they know what it is like to go without. It certainly shows you how sheltered we are when we pick our ready packed chicken off the shelf at Tescos. People here also like to eat a variety of critters and bugs. We have seen all sorts being sold by market vendors but we weren't brave enough to try. It is a while since I tried an ant in the Amazon! Anyway, back to the cooking lesson. Stephen shocked the whole group by chopping lemonglass with his cleaver like a pro! I have never seen this skill before and I live with him! The morning was huge fun. Unfortunately, our chef Stephen may be good with a meat cleaver but he isn't so good with cameras! He deleted all the photographic evidence!