So after our first restless night in Phnom Penh, and our wake-up scare that morning (you may need to go back to my Phnom Penh: Day One post), we headed down the street to our cooking class. We found the Frizz Restaurant without a problem. We were about 15 minutes early, so Fritz, the owner, said we could just hangout for a bit. Matt and I decided to keep walking up the street to see what was there. A couple blocks later, we came upon what turned out to be our favorite cafe in Phnom Penh, Cafe Fresco. We got smoothies to go and went back to the restaurant.

Once we got there, we met our teacher, Samien, and James, an Irishman also taking the class. Fritz told us to leave everything but our backpacks at the restaurant before going to the market because it’s tight in some places and people’ve been known to grab and run. We dumped everything but our cameras and passports and then took off. The market was only a five minute walk away. Once I saw where we were going to be walking, I kinda got bummed out. There were so many people! I didn’t even think we’d be able to fully enjoy the market. As it turns out, once we got in the thick of it all, we were just fine. It was really awesome. Food is such a huge part of culture, so I was eager to learn about all the different foods offered. I stayed close to Samien so she could explain stuff to me and the two guys followed close behind.

For the most part, Cambodians buy their food fresh for the days meals. It’s awesome, really. Walking through the market, looking for what’s in season, what’s priced reasonably, what you’re in the mood for. We recognized lots of stuff: limes, lettuce, cauliflower, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and cucumbers. There were also tons of different fruits and vegetables that I’d never seen before… it was insane! Everything was so colorful and fresh. I wanted to munch on all the produce as we walked along, but I couldn’t, of course, because it needed to be cleaned.

After a bit we came to a section with a bunch of meat vendors. It was crazy for us to see raw meat sitting out on such a hot day. We watched as people walked up, picked up and poked chunks of meat and then either bought some or walked away. Other vendors were chopping up fish right there, then making change with guts and scales all over their hands. Emmm. We came around to a bunch of vendors set up between buildings and under tarps. They had a bunch of veggies, too, but also grains, eggs, noodles, dried foods, canned goods and bottles of stuff. One of the most memorable things was learning about the eggs. They buy eggs at different stages… I’m talking eggs with the regular yolk, eggs with partially formed chicks and eggs with a fully developed chick inside. EW! There were pink eggs and eggs soaked in black stuff… I really should have been writing stuff down as we went because I’ve forgotten what the deal was with the last two… all I remember is that she said the black eggs taste really salty.

I feel like I was smiling the whole time, it was really hard not to. Seeing new stuff, smelling new smells and looking at people smiling back at you, it was really wonderful. Everyone seemed to be happy… even the people bargaining with the vendors were all joking around and laughing. Several women told our teacher that I was beautiful, which made me love them even more! Haha, I kid, I kid.

Once we had everything we needed for our meals, we went back to the restaurant. We were joined by another American, Kate, who was taking the class with us. All four of us hopped in a tuk-tuk and rode out to the owners home. His home is located right on the Mekong Delta. It was really nice because it was quieter than the city and so relaxing! He has the cooking area all set up with different cooking stations and a little deck overlooking the river for chilling and eating on. We waited for a bit for Samien to set things up and then we got to it.

First we made spring rolls. Everything is done old school… no food processors in that kitchen! We ground up a bunch of spices with a mortar and pestle and then shredded a root called taro. As we were shredding the taro, my hands started itching like crazy. I asked anyone else if they had itchy hands and everyone looked up at me like I was crazy. Samien said, “Oh, I’ll boil some water for you.” She said the only other person she knows that has that reaction, besides herself, is her best friend. I stuck my hands in the near boiling water and it went away. Weird! I asked if it itches her throat and she said if it isn’t cooked thoroughly it’ll mess with her through for awhile. Nice. We mixed all the rest of our ingredients together, squeezed the juice out of them and then rolled our spring rolls. We deep fried them and then went to the deck to eat them. Everyone was nervous about me eating them because God knows what kind of medical attention I’d get or how fast it’d be. I nibbled off a little bit and then waited while everyone else pigged out. The spring rolls were SO good! I didn’t have any problems so I woofed mine down. The peanut sauce we dipped them in was so good, too. We didn’t get the recipe but after mixing a bit of oyster sauce and fish sauce with the peanuts, I wasn’t so sure I’d be able to stomach it. I’m proud of myself though because I tried it and loved it. The ingredients complemented each other and I wasn’t able to just pick out one flavor, they mixed together so well.

We went back to our cooking stations and proceeded to make curry. Fish curry was on our menu but I told Samien that I didn’t like fish, so she changed mine to chicken instead. We chopped up our veggies and ground a ton of stuff in our fifty pound mortars. We used about two stalks of fresh lemongrass in our curry paste. I’ve never actually used lemongrass… so good! We mixed it all up, cooked it and then went to eat it with rice. It was just amazing! I’ve only eaten curry once before (in Korea) so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve always been grossed out at the thought of eating curry, I don’t know why. I’ve come to realize that it can be really good!

Next, we made a chicken eggplant dish. The English translation is ‘stir fry’ but when I think of stir fry, I don’t think of anything like what we made. This was more like a mushy, porridgey, delighfully tasty mush. Haha. We used grilled eggplant, chicken breast, garlic, oyster sauce and a little bit of salt, sugar and spring onions. That’s it but it was super delicious. We took our food out to the deck and tried to force ourselves to eat as much as possible… we were still full from the curry we ate an hour before.

Finally, we made a banana tapioca dessert. We boiled bananas, water, tapioca and sugar for about ten minutes, until the bananas were softish, and then added coconut milk. So. freakin. good. Wow, I loved it. I was still full but I ate it all! Haha.

We chilled on the deck for awhile before getting a picture with Samien. Fritz also gave us the recipes for the dishes we made (although I noticed they’re a bit different than what we actually made). We paid him $20 each, for the full day of cooking and eating, and then took a tuk-tuk back into town.

Matt and I think that the cooking class was the perfect way to start our vacation. We learned so much about traditional Khmer food and got to interact with Samien. She was such a great person to basically introduce us to her country, food and culture. She is hilarious! She, along with most other Cambodians we met during our stay, has such great sense of humor. They also have a great understanding of our language. Humor is one thing that is hard to translate or understand in other languages… but the Cambodians were amazing… they could joke with us back and forth as fast as native speakers. They’d laugh at the funny stuff and it didn’t take ten minutes to do it. I was thoroughly impressed.

Anyway, we loved the cooking class and would highly recommend it. It was great seeing another side of the country that you don’t normally see on a sightseeing trip. We hope to do something food related wherever we travel.

I also put up some pictures on our picture site. Check them out!