I need help with a Cambodian soup

[torakris]

Last summer in Boston one of my favorite meals was at wonderful restaurant called the Wonder Spice Cafe.

I fell in love with this soup I ate and can't stop thinking about it, I have been trying to recreate it at home but it is missing something. It doesn't help that I don't have a name for it.....

It had a perfect balance of all the different flavors (sweet, sour, salty and a bit of heat) and had pineapple and tomato, as well as garlic (I think) and cilantro for garnish. They served 3 variations--shrimp, chicken and I think fish?

Does anyone know what I am talking about?

anyone have a recipe?

[highchef]

Here's a link to their menu. If you can name the soup, you'll have a better chance of finding a recipe on the net. Hope it helps.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...748118?v=glance

[torakris]

Here's a link to their menu. If you can name the soup, you'll have a better chance of finding a recipe on the net. Hope it helps.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...748118?v=glance

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Thank you!!

I tried searching for a menu and came up empty.....

it was called somlah machoo

[Yajna Patni]

I have a few recipies, they are all in the book from another Boston Cambodian resteraunt, The Elephant walk. according to the book, Somlah is a kind of soup using a herb paste, and machoo means it is sour.

I think there are problems posting recipies straight out of books or i would post them, should i PM them to you?

[torakris]

I have a few recipies, they are all in the book from another Boston Cambodian resteraunt, The Elephant walk. according to the book, Somlah is a kind of soup using a herb paste, and machoo means it is sour.

I think there are problems posting recipies straight out of books or i would post them, should i PM them to you?

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copyrights keep us from posting the entire recipe, but if you could post the ingredients for the herb paste, I could work with that.

Thank you!

[v. gautam]

The yellow kroeung:

Stalk of lemon grass

Galangal

Turmeric

Garlic

Shallot

Prahok (optional)

This kroeung uses stalk of lemon grass only to cook the Samla Mchou Kroeung, which is a sour soup. It is also used in stir-fries of frogs, chicken and beef. It is also mixed into the stuffing for frogs, adding roasted and ground peanuts, and julienned cubanelle peppers, and seasoning

http://dmoz.org/Home/Cooking/World_Cuisines/Asian/Cambodian/

[BonVivant]

if it has a certain sourness i think it's this soup (the last one on the film strip). the sourness comes from preserved little mandarines. and prohok is NOT optional, it's a must. i remember how much i liked it in Phnom Penh last december, moto drivers said i had to eat it along with rice. i prefer to bring the bowl to my face and slurp! :)

[torakris]

what is prohok/prahok?

preserved mandarins?

oh dear, I may never copy this soup.....

[anzu]

Prahok is preserved fish. It is in paste form, sold in jars, and is gray in color. In The Elephant Walk Cookbook , the authors state that it might be sold in Southeast Asian groceries, and is probably labelled as 'mudfish' or as 'preserved gray featherback fish'.

I'm not sure, but it might possibly be available in Yokohama Chinatown, particularly in places catering to Thai customers.

The authors do state that it is extremely strong, and requires getting used to. They also say that some people will substitute anchovies or shrimp paste.

As far as leaving it out is concerned, the authors have given five different recipes for somlah machou. In each, prahok has been listed as optional. In addition, the souring agent in all five soups is tamarind. None of them asks for preserved mandarins.

With all respect to BonVivantNL, I think a little more leeway in ingredients is often a good thing. Given the poverty that has been and is still present in Cambodia, I am sure that there would be plenty of households making this soup without preserved mandarins, and possibly without some of the other 'compulsory' ingredients as well. It will not be exactly the same as the soup you enjoyed, but it will still be both authentic and tasty.

BTW, I would highly recommend the book itself. Not only are the recipes delicious, but most of them call for ingredients that are easily obtained in Japan (daikon, shrimps, and so on).

[BonVivant]

maybe i had this one with preserved lemon/mandarins. have to check my travel notes. my eyes are still wet when i think about that recent fantastic trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. looks like next time i'm in Paris Khmer food is for breakfast instead of Vietnamese :)

[torakris]

Is prahok anything like the Thai fish paste? I have a tub of kapi lek in the house...

and are the preserved lemons/mandarins preserved in the same way as the middle eastern ones? (I have a jar of those too )

Anzu, thanks for the tip on the book, I will take a look at it.

[anzu]

Purists will probably want to shoot me, but I would personally say yes to both substitutions.

(Disclaimer: I have never tasted Cambodian preserved limes, I am only familiar with the Thai ones. I do believe, though, that they are fundamentally the same.)

The Thai preserved limes are preserved whole, in brine. There is no extra lime juice added to the pickling liquid. I have sometimes substituted these for Middle Eastern ones (the people from that forum will also be wanting to shoot me).

Despite what the recipe says, I am referring to limes and not to lemons as I do not think there is such a thing as preserved lemons in SE Asia. I may very well be remembering incorrectly, but I seem to recall reading somewhere long ago that the temperatures required for lemon and lime trees differ, and therefore you will usually find one and not the other in various countries. I personally have never seen lemons anywhere in SE Asia or seen recipes using them. Also, preserved limes are quite commonly sold in SE Asian markets (sometimes labelled as lemons), whereas lemons are not.

That said, once preserved, they develop a similar taste and texture to the middle eastern lemons.

Kapi lek is shrimp paste (isn't it?), so obviously it will not be identical with fish paste. However, it is being used to provide a depth of background flavor in basically the same way, so in your place I would go ahead and use it. In addition, when the authors have said that some people substitute shrimp paste, it is this kind of product they have in mind, I think.

Hey, go ahead. The worst thing that can happen is that it absolutely bombs and you have to throw it out!