A Phnom Penh Saturday

My colleague from 'Daughters' has been at my house this afternoon. I’m teaching her to swim, as I have a small pool at my apartment. 

My swimming pool

Most Cambodians can’t swim as they have no P.E. lessons at school here. My lovely friend is so nearly swimming after just 2 lessons-very exciting. I also tried to teach Bunti, the Security guard's baby to swim, but he cried :-( 

We are so fortunate to have been taught to swim at school...

Currently it is the rainy season here, and Cambodia is very flooded in many provinces. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15246653

Lots of people have died-well over 200, mainly because they can’t swim and so they have drowned. Many, many more have lost their homes, and everything they own. Lots of peoples animals have drowned, and their crops failed as the land is too water logged.

Here in Phnom Penh the river does look very full, but only a few areas have been badly flooded. During the heavy rain storms the drains overflow and the streets flood, so we all drive through/walk through about 30cm of water/raw sewage/rubbish (nice!), it soon dries up again though.

Flooded streets: best not to think about what is in the water!

After I taught the swimming lesson today, we changed roles, and I had a lesson in Khmer cooking. I learnt how to cook Loc-Lac beef. I recommend you give it a try if you fancy trying something utterly delicious!!...

Mine looked a bit like this, but much nicer!

Here is the recipe:

Loc-Lac beef = My favorite Cambodian dish. Peppery, limey delicious beef, served with salad (seems to be a very Cambodian way of eating, hot food and salad) and rice, and a fried egg.

Chynam naa!! (Translation: very delicious)

INGREDIANTS  (for 2 portions)

Peppery sauce:

Black pepper corns and a grinder

Juice of 1 lime

2 garlic cloves

A large pinch of salt

Salad:

2 handfuls of Lettuce leaves (not iceburg the more floppy ones)

2 Tomatoes sliced into thin discs

1 small onion sliced into thin rings

Beef:

2 lg garlic cloves finely sliced

A hunk of rump steak chopped into small pieces

A large dollop of oyster sauce

A small dollop of fish sauce (not the same as oyster sauce-this one is made from salty fermented fish)

A dessert spoonful of sugar

2 eggs.

HOW TO MAKE IT:

First make the sauce (which goes on the side and gets spooned onto the dish as you eat)

Grind up lots of black pepper-must be freshly ground, atleast 2 table-spoons of it. Finely chop up 2 large garlic cloves and add to the pepper along with the juice of 1 lime and a good pinch of salt.  Put the sauce on one side until you are ready to eat.

Prepare a large plate with a bed of lettuce, topped with a layer of finely sliced onion, and then a layer of finely sliced tomato.

Fry 2 mashed garlic cloves in oil for a few mins, add some finely sliced beef (enough for 2 people) and stir fry until cooked. Add a dollop of oyster sauce, some fish sauce, and a desert spoon of sugar, simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes.

While the beef simmers fry an egg for each person. Fry it so the yoke is cooked through.

Poor the beef stir fry onto the middle of the salad, then top with the eggs. Serve with boiled white rice, and the peppery limey sauce. 

Cambodians never pile their plate up with food the way we would, eating is very communal, so the main dish goes in the middle and you get rice and then each add a small bit of the meat at a time to your plate (unless your a greedy foreigner like me who forgets and piles my plate high!) 

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