Cambodian Wednesday

We get produce delivered to the house every two weeks now. It's kind of fun because it's always going to be different items and I have to plan accordingly in order to let nothing go to waste. Lately, I've been wanting to delve further into making food that's better for us to eat. I have no problem adding more butter and bacon and cheese to things, but Steph has issued a challenge, try not to use bacon, butter and cheese. So yesterday I had this idea. Cambodian food. I really loved it when I went. It's like Thai, but I think slightly different. From what I tasted they tend to like to highlight the sour flavor where as Thai seems to like to go for the spicy flavor. to be honest I think these cuisines are probably among the most flavor balanced there is. The simple sauce combination of garlic, chilies, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice is just amazing to me and it's applications are almost limitless. I digress, last night I made a lemongrass chicken soup and a salad using mostly ingredients that came in the produce delivery. It was simple and delicious. And I list:

4 cups water / 1 cup chicken stock
lemongrass - I have it in a jar. Very Handy
Galanagl(sp) - I have it in a jar. Very handy
Fermented Shrimp Paste - 1 tsp.
Fish Sauce - Plenty of it
Garlic - 4 cloves, chopped.
Rice - 2/3 cup. Simple just pour it in dry.
Chicken - 2 boobs, skinless

Bring to boil, then simmer 10-15 minutes. Skim top.

Then in individual bowls mix together the following fresh ingredients:
scallions- sliced
lime zest -(in lieu of Kaffir leaves)
mint - (in lieu of thai basil)
lime juice - at least 1 lime
Chilies - (Optional. Steph had none, {read:Spicecamper} I used Korean chili paste)
Cilantro - tons


Now go ahead and ladle soup into the bowls and OMG it's delicious and there's really no fats involved.


Next I made a simple salad using the above described dipping sauce (fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, chili, garlic) romaine, tomato, french cut green beans, cucumber, cilantro, mint, chopped peanuts.


Anyway, it ended up being one of my fav meals I've made in a while.