Cook Book Club: October's Ingredient Is Corn Starch. The Country: Cambodia!

Elise
17 hours ago
3 min read

Starting our third year highlighting countries, we moved between Africa and Asia with some sojourn into the Middle East. Kits include a little bit about the country of focus, a recipe (or more) that is native to the country, and a unique ingredient or two from that recipe without which, it wouldn't be the same. Most recipes are from writers native to the country covered or otherwise lived experience of that culture. I'll post the recipes and information here as well, so let's get cooking!

Cambodian Food Culture and History

As explained by various cultural resources

Cambodia is an ancient country with a somewhat tumultuous history. It has been an inhabited region for around 7000 years and seen various different empires and political structures throughout its existence, the rise and fall of various religions (one of the earliest sites of Hinduism), and the influence of empires beyond its borders in a myriad ways. There was even a four-year period in the 1970s that saw a near total lost of their food history during the brutal, bloody, repressive, totalitarian Khmer Rouge (Communist Party of Kampuchea) regime following their implementation of policies that mirrored China's Great Leap Forward (during China's takeover by the Chinese Communist Party 1958-1962) which was directly responsible for the Great Chinese Famine and in both cases mass genocides. During this time, in order to survive, many people turned to unusual foods like insects, small animals, reptiles, and whatever they could find in fields due to food scarcity and forced labor.

Luckily, though it did lead to the near total disappearance of traditional Khmer recipes, the period was relatively short and the Cambodian people have since bounced back and been actively working on recovering their food and culture. Local foods like coconut milk and fish sauce have regained their prominence and the traditional techniques and dishes have made a resurgence. You can still see the evidence, however, of the KR regime, in many of the unique foods found on street vendors' carts.

Main Recipe

Coconut Sauce

This recipe has been adapted from AngkorChef.com for use by the Brown Deer Library Cookbook Club

Serves: 12 Prep Time: 10min. Cook Time: 20min.

Ingredients

14 oz coconut cream*
½ tsp cornstarch
1½ tsp black pepper
2 tsp sugar
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp fish sauce (or substitute a pinch of salt)*
1 cup green onion julienned (optional)

Directions

In a saucepan mix ¼ cup of coconut cream with cornstarch, until it is smooth and uniform. Heat over low heat.
Add the remaining ingredients except the green onions. Stir until sugar and salt are dissolved, turn off heat and stir in green onion. Reserve half of the sauce for serving.

Notes:

Fish sauce is incredibly common in Asian cooking. It adds an additional layer of umami (also known as the taste we associate with "savory"). Luckily if you don't already have it, this recipe allowed for a less traditional substitution by adding a little more salt. However, if you don't and want to try it, we have an additional recipe coming up in the near future that uses it as well. Otherwise, you might be able to substitute a vegan alternative (dashi, a Japanese version of fish broth, does have vegan alternatives for sale on many big-name online retailers). In addition, if you do purchase the sauce, you will have a way to use more later on. We have a recipe coming up early next year that also uses it.
Coconut milk/cream is different than a milk substitute made from coconut. Coconut milk is found in the Asian aisle of your local grocery store in cans. Coconut cream and coconut milk are very similar. The main difference is that cream is thicker and richer with a higher fat content.
Cambodians use coconut sauce on a lot of stuff. It can be used in sweet dishes, savory, vegetarian or carnivorous, land or sea. If you can think it, you can try it. I pulled this recipe from a grilled corn recipe, but be creative.