Mahob Anglais

That means English Food.

I have been endlessly spoilt by my Khmer friends, colleagues and at times perfect strangers, feeding me delicious Khmer food during the last 14 months. Actually, not all of it has been that delicious and I have sometimes found myself making excuses for not gobbling down bowls full of cow intestines, or knawing on chicken’s feet, or swallowing fish egg sacks, or eating fermented fish paste (Khmer cheese!) not to mention the MSG induced semi-comas I have occasionally found myself in! So I thought it was about time I got my own back, erm, I mean returned the favour to a few choice friends in Phnom Srok with a taste of good traditional English homecooking!

Set Menu:

Appetizer: Bread with a choice of meat pate or Marmite topping
Starter: Tomato Soup
Main Course: Shepherd’s Pie with boiled vegetables
Pudding: Trifle

Drinks: Orange Squash, Red Wine

The preparations were fun! I spent a small fortune in a western supermarket in Siam Reap on some necessities such as baked beans, gravy and orange squash! And I finally got to be head chef in my own kitchen! I got to dictate how the vegetables were chopped (there’s more than one way to chop an onion you know!). The menu sounded a lot grander (and English!) than it turned out and I was limited by the fresh food choices available to me in Phnom Srok! On the day there was no bread to be found in the district so the Crisp Breads from Siam Reap (rather more French than English) had to do, the pate was Dutch and the beef was sold out so the shepherd’s pie was made with pork which my beautiful friend Daney was happy to mince! I also found myself without a potato masher, or in fact potatoes, so again the shopping trip to Siam Reap proved to be useful as I had had the foresight to pick up some Smash equivalent while I was there!

The actual meal was a fantastic experience! It was really interesting to see how my Khmer friends reacted to a different culinary experience, using different cutlery, eating in a different order, having a whole meal served on your own plate rather than sharing from dishes in the centre of the table, and so on. The crispbreads went down a treat, the Dutch pate was a hit and naturally some loved the Marmite while some hated it! The soup course was very funny! I wolfed my soup down from the bowl while everyone else politely sipped one spoonful and then left the rest aside. “Oh no!” I thought... “They hate the soup!” I dished out mashed potato and the minced pork and veg mixture (Shepherd’s Pie, my eye!) and observed as they began to eat the soup with the main meal! It was amazing and very amusing to see such familiar food being eaten in such a Khmer style! The boiled vegetables (cauliflower) were looked at very suspiciously, politely tasted and then blatantly ignored and as I followed suit I realised that vegetables here are served in or with other foods and always with a sauce of some sort! I had to agree, they tasted awful! The pork mixture was a hit which I was really pleased about although some of my guests insisted on pouring (yes, literally pouring) salt over it which I chose not to take any offence at! And then came the trifle! Wow! Although everyone was full of mashed potato, the trifle didn’t last long at all!

The meal was enjoyed with a few bottles of red wine (French!) and basking in the apparent success of my first dinner party in Phnom Srok I explained how I am much better at cooking Italian food to which confession I was promptly asked to prove it! So, not one to turn down a challenge I have offered to cook an Italian dinner for all the staff at the District Office of Education next month! Oops! Watch this space!