People who have known me over the years will probably faint when they see this entry, but the truth is that after many years of not eating chicken I have begun eating it again. This personal taboo was broken a few weeks ago whilst visiting my favorite Japanese restaurant here in town. The woman who works there is awfully sweet and often brings me free dishes, as thanks for being a regular customer I suppose. Anyway, one day she brought me a complimentary dish of lemon chicken and, being too shy to say no, I took a bite or two just to show my appreciation. Well, it was delicious!
Today's dish is my first attempt at cooking Khmer Krom (Cambodian) food. This dish is called Salor Nam-ngau Sach Moan, or Chicken in Pickled Lemon Soup. I was intrigued by the recipe because I'm a huge fan of soda chanh muoi (tirk nam-ngau in Cambodian), which is a Vietnamese soda drink made with soda water and pickled lemon. I absolutely love it. So, the thought of using preserved lemons in cooking really got me excited.
This recipe was simplicity itself but it was jam-packed with flavor. The key flavor is the preserved citrus which lends a taste that is totally unheard of, if you haven't sampled it before. The taste of the preserved lemon is at the same salty, pungent, sour, and perhaps even a little smokey. (By the way, I am saying "lemon" but judging from the perfectly round shape of the citrus in my preserved lemon jar, these are actually calamansi limes which is a hybrid citrus -- see this source.) The recipe is repeated here:
Ingredients :
½ chicken cut into 8 pieces
1 preserved lemon, cut in half
5 cups water
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ yellow onion, sliced
2 stalks green onion, chopped
In a soup pot, sautee garlic and yellow onion. Add water. Boil chicken with preserved lemon. Simmer until meat is tender. Season with sugar, salt and fish sauce. Sprinkle with green onion and black pepper before serving. Serve hot with rice.