Mother's Day: Cajun Food in Cambodia

May is a busy month in the family I grew up in. 5 of us have birthdays in May and all of those 5 are also in mother roles, making it a double celebration month! When abroad, that means I miss everyone in May, though.

As I grew up with a Cajun father, Ben thought it would be great to go to a restaurant that was offering gumbo for Mother's Day only. Alma's Cafe in Phnom Penh was a welcome find when we first arrived in Cambodia from Mexico! The owner's are from Mexico (wife) and New Orleans (husband) so they have quite a range of flavor to offer. In addition, they often partner with ethical NGO's who offer a variety of services and products so you never know what cool thing will be around when you visit. It's a great place to go when we're really missing Spanish and Mexico in general.

Ben and all of the kids took me out for this special meal for Mother's Day. Ezra tore the gumbo up! (As well as some quesadillas...) The Cajun side of my family thinks that he's the most Cajun-looking of my kids, and apparently his taste buds followed that pattern also.

 I'm grateful for my family. I love my husband and all of my children. They have helped me grow in character and added so much love and meaning to my life. I'm thankful to be a mother.

If you like Cajun food, check out these seasonings. If you get any of them, we might get enough to buy half a container of filé... they're delicious, and worth sharing with you regardless.

Cambodian Market Food

So I have this friend who is persuaded that it is her job to make sure I experience Cambodian cuisine. It seems like every time she goes to the market, she brings home something new to try. Here are a few things that were new to me:

Persimmons: these were bright orange with a smooth, firm peel on the outside and the inside, tasted to me, a lot like a peach. I've been wanting to try these for a while, so I was glad she brought one.

This seems to be a typical breakfast food: Tapioca with sweetened milk of some sort, toasted sesame seeds and plantain.

These grilled bananas on a stick were brushed with something like soy sauce, because the outside was crispy and salty. It also came with a potato that had been boiled, mixed with vanilla and sugar and then formed into a patty and grilled like the bananas... it was interesting. The kids preferred the potato and I preferred the bananas.

This was another version of tapioca; this time with sweetened sweet potato, not quite mashed, but giving body to the soup. It also had egg, like in the version you would find in egg drop soup. I was starving, and it was a filling, if un-thought of combination for me.

On the top of the plate you will see a banana that has been battered and fried. The batter includes sesame seeds and I think vanilla and sugar from the flavor. As a bonus, when you get these, the little batter pieces that fall off into the hot grease and cook are put in the bottom of your bag so that in addition to the bananas, you get a bunch of crunchies. These are my children's favorite thing to eat here, so far... they get it every once in a while.

I'm sure there are a lot more things to discover when it comes to market food. I'm not interested in the bug/snake options, but when it comes to vegetables combined in interesting ways, I'm a lot more open to trying it. Would you?

Trying New Food in the States

One thing about getting to visit many different family members while we are in the States is getting to learn new recipes. 

I had never tried "Dutch hats" before. It was basically a pancake batter with more eggs, poured in a cast iron skillet and baked where it puffs up. We then slathered on Greek yogurt, strawberries, blueberries and a little Maple syrup... Yum!

Another thing I had never heard of was cornmeal pie. To me it tasted like a gooey yellow cake mix wit a hint of the gritty cornmeal texture.

I loved this recipe of quinoa salad! It had dried cherries, walnuts, green onions, celery, a pinch of cayenne, salt, pepper, coconut oil, red wine vinegar, and lemon juice.

Have you tried any new recipes this summer?

Seen in Abu Dhabi 32: Molokhia

I saw this in the frozen food section of the store here and wondered what it was. When I got home I found here (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulukhiyah) that it was:

"the leaves of Corchorus species (Jute leaves) used as a vegetable. It is a popularMiddle Eastern and North Africancountries. Mulukhiyyah is rather bitter, and when boiled, the resulting liquid is a thick, highly mucilaginous broth; it is often described as "slimy," rather like cooked okra. Mulukhiyyah is generally eaten cooked, not raw, and is most frequently turned into a kind of soup orstew, typically bearing the same name as the vegetable in the local language."

A Pakistani Recipe: Sabzi

If you would like to incorporate more vegetables into your diet, maybe you'd like to try this simple Pakistani recipe called "sabzi" which means "vegetables".
All you need are:

2 medium sized potatoes
1 large carrot
1 small/medium sized red onion
1 handful of peas
1 fresh tomato
dried fenugreek leaves
1 tsp coriander powder (crush the pods- so much tastier)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
desired salt and chili powder

Method:
Fry onions until translucent.
Add all chopped vegetables.
Add all spices including dried fenugreek leaves.
Add a splash of water and cook on low/medium heat, checking a few times.


It's easy and tasty and a great way to add more colorful vegetables to your table.

Ruwais Mall

When you move to a new place, I've found that it's usually best to try to live within what the culture has available rather than constantly trying to recreate things from home without the right ingredients. This is what we do most of the time, with the occasional special treat of making things like flour tortillas or other things we miss from Texas and Guatemala. What we've been able to experience this way, as a bonus, is one of the best parts of travel abroad: the local cuisine. In a multicultural place like Abu Dhabi, this has meant  a combination of Filipino, Indian, and a variety of Middle Eastern foods.

In Ruwais, especially, this has been the experience since the variety found in the many-malled area of Abu Dhabi is not available in this desert town a good 2.5 hours away, so finding something we missed from home even for special occasions was either a "see if someone feels like mailing it" or "just do without" thing. Part of this has changed with the new Ruwais Mall.

Some of the main things found at the mall that were difficult to get otherwise are flour tortillas, sour cream and salsa, some of our most missed and not-easy-to-make items. We still will only get them for special occasions, but it's nice to have the option!  Some other ways this will add variety to Ruwais, (soon, since all of the shops are not open yet) will include restaurants beyond the Indian/Arabic food option available, a wider variety of clothes and office/school supplies, baby supply shop and even a nutrition shop that might have more natural options for things like toothpaste, deodorant and coconut oil. That's what is important  to me... I know many of the other ladies are excited about a beauty salon and cinema.

I don't even know half of the new options this is going to provide, there's not too much I miss besides people and certain foods (I'm sure there's a connection there...) and I generally don't like malls, but just adding another air conditioned option for walking around during the the 100-125 degree months is a welcome diversion here.

Arancini

YouTube is an introvert's multi-cultural training center... It's how I've learned to make things like from-scratch Mexican-style chicken tortilla soup, Italian pignolis, Indian samosas and a good fish curry while living within Abu Dhabi. One of our favorite new recipes is arancini, or, meat-and-vegetable-stuffed rice balls that are then battered and baked or fried. (I baked mine.) Laura Vitale's recipe here is my favorite so far.

Now, if I could just find someone local to teach me how to make camel-milk ice cream... or maybe not.

Do you have any favorite recipes you found online that were winners? I like to try new ones!

A Taste of Asia in Guatemala: Spring Rolls

When we moved to Guatemala, the last thing I expected to learn was any form of Asian cooking. However, there were several things I didn't know: 1) People from all over the world work at international schools, including people from Asia, and 2) There is a considerable Korean population in Guatemala, which means at least one good Asian market.

A friend who helped me on my journey towards fitness also introduced me to spring rolls. She learned from a teacher who had taught in China and got pointers on how to make the sesame/vinegar combo from another teacher who was Japanese. It's really amazing how many types of people come together in the international arena.

While I like trying new foods, I wasn't sure I would like spring rolls. I wouldn't eat many of the following things raw or in this combination normally:

This combination included the raw ingredients of cabbage, (you can use lettuce) carrot, cucumber, red pepper, mango, spinach, and sesame seeds. I was totally addicted after the first bite!



The first thing that we cooked was the vermicelli noodles:

The process is almost identical to regular pasta: boil water and then add the noodles. The exception is that they seem to be more delicate and easier to overcook.





Save the hot water from the noodles to help un-stiffen the rice paper wrappers:

The rice paper wrappers were the weirdest, funnest part of making spring rolls! To me, they start out looking like plastic, circular place mats. Once placed in the warm (not too hot or they'll crack!) water, they sort of "dissolve" into a wiggly sticky wrapper that I treat like Saran Wrap because it tends to stick together easily. However weird it sounds, it is quite delicious and one of the best textures that brings the whole spring roll (literally) together.

Once the wrapper has "dissolved" in the warm water, we let held it up and let the excess water drip off, then placed it on a waiting plate. There, we put a layer of lettuce or cabbage, grated carrot, cucumber strips, red pepper strips, mango strips, spinach, sesame seeds and a good helping of the noodles. This is also delicious with avocado inside... but in my opinion, anything is good with avocado. Wrapped up like a burrito, it now looked like this:

Next, we cut the spring rolls in half and added about a teaspoon full of what I'll call "special sauce" to the noodles to give them some flavor. I couldn't remember exactly how this part went, so I just added the sesame oil, white vinegar and soy in a combination that I thought would taste best together. If you have actual amounts, please comment. Otherwise, just experiment with the taste and see what you like best. We really liked how ours turned out.

What really added the crowning flavor for me to this entire concoction, however, were the following two sauces: sweet chili sauce and wasabi!

It doesn't take much of either of these two sauces, especially the spicy wasabi! A small amount is enough, though, to enhance all of the naturally delicious flavors that already exist.













To raw fruit and vegetables that taste delicious!

Do you have a favorite combination for spring roll ingredients or some pointers for this first time learner?