Siem Reap November 2011.....(recipe:kerabu chicken with bok ngee)

Angkor Wat

Moat around Angkor Wat

Siem Reap was a pleasant surprise. I was prepared for a Third World environment but found instead, a modern city making up for time lost from the country's difficult past. Siem Reap has definitely been on a roll, cultivating the world, to make the city a must visit destination. She turned out to be a little gem and not necessarily for Angkor Wat.

It was extremely pleasant to find, as we walked through the main street, a meandering river right in the middle of the city. The statues of animals along its banks and kids fishing for their lunch were extremely charming.

However the temples beckoned, so we dutifully got our official "Temples Tour Passport". Angkor Wat was, as expected, well organised for tours. Then came the highlight, for us at least. Who was going to climb the steps leading to the 3rd level of the temple?

                                      

These steep steps were conquered not by the 40, 50, 60 or 70 something in our group but by Mary our 80 year old intrepid traveler.  I didn't even try.

Angkor Wat was interesting for its architecture but somehow it didn't quite excite me as much as the other temples we visited. I couldn't seem to find her soul.

Banteay Srei

My favourite: Banteay Srei, Citadel of Women is the modern name of a 10th century Khmer temple  originally called "Tribhuvanamaheesvara" (Great Lord of the Threefold world), an apellation of the god Siva. It was built largely of a hard red sandstone that can be carved like wood. Brick and laterite were used only for the enclosure walls and some structural elements.

The temple is known for the beauty of its sandstone lintels (horizontal beams spanning the gaps between two posts) and pediments (roughly triangular space above a rectangular doorway or openings). Banteay Srei is generally taken to refer to the intricacy of the carving and the tiny dimensions of the architecture.

It was discovered only in 1914, and was the subject of a celebrated case of art theft when Andre Malraux stole four devatas in 1923 (he was soon arrested and the figures returned)

Bayon

Bayon was built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VIII. Its most distinctive feature is the multitude of serene and massive stone faces on the many towers which jut out from the upper terrace and cluster around its central peak. The temple is known also for two impressive sets of bas-relief, which present an unusual combination of mythological, historical and mundane scenes.

     Part of Ta Prohm   

Unlike other temples at Angkor, Ta Prohm has been left as it was found, preserved as an example of what a tropical forest will do to an architectural monument when the protective hands of humans are withdrawn. Ta Prohm's walls, roofs, chambers and courtyards have been sufficiently repaired to stop further deterioration and the inner sanctuary has been cleared of bushes and thick undergrowth, but the temple has been left in the stranglehold of trees.   

Amazingly huge roots

 Having planted themselves centuries ago, the trees' serpentine roots pry apart the ancient stones and their immense trunks straddle the once bustling Buddhist Temple. Built in the later part of the 12th century by Jayavarman VII, Ta Prohm is the  modern name of a temple built in the Bayon style and originally called Rajavihara. 

It was used as a location in the Tomb Raider. While the film took visual liberties  with other temples, its scene of Ta Prohm were quite  faithful to the temple's actual appearance and made use of its eerie qualities.
                                                         

 


This Lady behind the roots made it to the National Geographic magazine.










Temple info googled/photos mine


Life in the City

Schools Out...on the way home

Vendors outside a Children's Hospital

Selling fried sweet fritters

Workers having their lunch break

River in the City-one of many animal statues

River in the City-fishing for lunch

Food
This was also a surprise. I didn't expect to experience good bistro and fine dining cuisine in Siem Reap. But we did, as well as delicious local food. We started with a nice lunch at the Khmer Kitchen, recommended by our guide Saron. It was a no frills, plastic table cloth "kopi tiam" with simple home style food....the way our mums would cook for us. The rice was especially yummy as it tasted like a combination of regular and glutinous rice. We were told it was Cambodian old rice.

Khmer Kitchen   

BBQ Pork Ribs

Kang Kong, Chicken Larb, Amok(fish) Curry

Banana Blossom Salad

Beef with Cashews

Krakow Fish Soup

All Female Kitchen Staff

Fresh Rice Paper Rolls

The Nest: surf and turf

Other Eating Places:
The Blue Pumpkin, a french bakery cum bistro served delicious local and western food. Its desserts were enticing!

The Nest an award winning restaurant served fusion food. The beef fillet was cooked to perfection as were the prawns. The accompanying seow pai cai and pumpkin mash were done equally well.

  
and then there was the street food.... looked interesting but alas we weren't brave enough to try!. 

Top #1 Shellfish
#2 Sweet Fritters

 #3 BBQ Bananas

 #4 Baguettes

#5 Noodle Stall

#6 Lunch Lady

 Pic #1 these were being sold in the hot sun
 Pic #2 looked like little puris
 Pic #3 Bananas and Dough Cake
 Pic #4 Baguettes filled with cured meat etc
 Pic #5 Check out the frying pan
 Pic #6 Economy Food in a pack:Fried Fish, Veggy Curry, Rice and Drinks

 

RECIPES from Lil's Kitchen
The Cambodian Banana Blossom Salad includes banana flowers, carrots, cucumber, tomato, capsicum, shallots, garlic, mint, sweet basil, grilled chicken mixed with a piquant salad dressing comprising shallots, garlic, cilantro root, chili, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, fish sauce, sugar and lime. Salad was not unlike the Thai and Vietnamese ones.

The Penang Peranakans have their Kerabu which is basically a hot, sweet, sour, salty salad. While the dressing for the Kerabu remains generally the same, Penangnites make salads out of pork skin, chicken breast/feet, black fungus, prawns, banana flowers, jelly fish, pucuk paku (fiddlehead fern tips), kacang botol (winged bean), green papaya, pineapple, cucumber, taugeh.! 

www.my-island-penang.com has an interesting take on the Kerabu Dressing. 

Here's my family recipe for Kerabu Chicken and Bok Ngee (Black Fungus):

Ingredients:

• 150 gms shallots (finely sliced)
• 3 tbsp krisek (fried shredded coconut, pounded)
• 1 tbsp finely sliced torch ginger flower (bunga kantan) 
• 2 leaves of the daun limau perut (kaffir lime) finely shredded
• 50 gms black fungus scalded and shredded 
• 300 gms cooked chicken breast, finely shredded

 Dressing 

• 2 tbsp sambal blachan: pound 100g fresh red chillies, 40g toasted belachan, 2tbsp lime juice, salt and sugar to taste
• 1 tbsp pre fried and pounded hae bee (dried shrimps)
• 3 tbsp lime juice or to taste
• 2 tbsp sugar or to taste
• 1 tsp salt or to taste

Method
1. Krisek: fry the coconut on low heat till it turns light brown. Cool.
2. Hae Bee: pan fry the dried prawns. Cool, mince in a blender.
3. Mix dressing ingredients in a bowl.
4. In another bowl, mix the rest (except for the torch ginger and 1/4 of the krisek) of the ingredients. Add dressing. Toss well. Plate and garnish with the balanced krisek and torch ginger.

Angkor Wat @ 8am