.: evil jungle prince :.

I felt like making something different and sweet tonight, so I put together some bai damnerb gruop khano (Cambodian grilled coconut rice with jackfruit in a banana leaf).

1. I started out by cooking two cups of sweet rice and scraping out half a coconut.

2. Next I cut jackfruit into pieces.

3. When the rice was done, I combined 1/2 cup coconut milk with 1/2 tsp salt and 2 tsp sugar. I added this to the rice and then allowed the rice to sit for 30 mins. When ready, I cut some banana leaves to size and began filling them with the rice, fresh coconut, and jackfruit. I used toothpicks to secure the ends.

4. Next I placed the stuffed banana leaves on a very hot grill and allowed them to grill until slightly burnt on each side.

Yummy!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 06:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been so lazy this weekend. I wanted to try something new and fun that required little energy, and finally decided on trying out this recipe for kalamansi soda.

1. First I squeezed the juice of three kalamansi limes into a glass. I then added 3 tsp sugar and a few drop of soda water, stirring until the sugar was completely dissolved.

2. Next I filled the the glass to half-way with more soda water and then added ice until the soda reached the top of the glass. I used a fourth kalamansi, cut in half, as a garnish.

This was really refreshing and cool -- just the thing for a hot and lazy day like today.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 04:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

This was my first time playing around with jackfruits in cooking. When I came across this Khmer recipe, I thought I'd never find jackfruit locally but salivated at the thought of eventually trying it. As it happened I then ran across canned jackfruit at the local Filipino market, so, here we are!

1. First I preheated the oven to 325F and greased a muffin pan.

2. Next I combined the following ingredients to make a batter: 2 egg whites, 1/2 cup palm sugar (or brown sugar), 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1 cup white flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp vanilla. Mix until a smooth batter is achieved. Finally, spoon in 3/4 cup cubed jackfruit pulp by hand so that they remain as cubes.

3. Bake until a toothpick can be removed cleanly, which should be around 15-20 mins. Allow to cool slightly before removing from the muffin pan.

Before I bit into my jackfruit muffins, I was wondering whether jackfruit would be cooling or heaty. The sensation I felt on my tongue felt exactly the same as when eating durian... definitely heaty!

P.S. As you can see from the photo, I also added some toasted coconut to the top of the batter before baking. This added a little extra texture. Next time I will try adding some macadamias or other nuts to the batter, too.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Despite the weather report calling for grey skies and rain, the sun was out in its full glory today. Accordingly I just about wore myself out in the morning getting lots of warm-weather activities accomplished, such as pruning, watering, and other gardening chores. My energy pretty much all used up by noon, I decided to make a snack as opposed to a full meal. So I made num pa-kon chien, or Khmer style shrimp cake.

1. In a large bowl, mix 1lb ground shrimp, one clove garlic, 2 chopped green onions, 1/4 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp fish sauce, 1/4 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp paprika , 1/4 tsp black pepper and one cup grated jicima (I used daikon instead). Mix well.

2. Add 1 egg (I used whites only) and 1 cup flour. Mix well, forming into small patties. (Note: I used a little a flour to better handle the patties. This worked out well.) Set a side.

3. Heat frying pan to medium heat. Add oil. Pan fry shrimp patties in peanut oil until both sides are golden.

Serve with rice and a sweet fish sauce, which is a must. The sweet sauce brings all the tastes together and makes for a filling, delicious meal that seems deceitfully more involved than it really is. Thanks to Khmerkromrecipes.com for these recipes! My notes are in parentheses.

1. In a bowl, mix 1/4 cup hot water and 1/4 cup sugar. Mix until dissolved.

2. Add 1/3 cup lime juice, 1/3 cup fish sauce, and three chopped red chili peppers. Place in refrigerator and cool. Before serving, add some crushed peanuts on top.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's another recipe I tried making from the excellent Khmerkromrecipes.com website... num tirk doung, or coconut pound cake. The site states this recipe is from Mott Chrouk (Chau Doc) province. I found this pound cake to be really delish, which I suppose is of little surprise considering that coconut is one of my favorite flavors.

I ended up eating most of my cake throughout the week with my morning espresso, although a portion of it went to the neighbor who is replacing my garage door opener for next to nothing. (A neighborhood handyman who does favors is high on my feed-list.) The recipe follows -- note that I left out egg yolks in my version, and I will probably trying using less sugar next time around as it was very sweet. Perhaps I'll trying baking it with stevia instead? I've been meaning to try this herbal sweetener... does anybody have any experience with stevia they can share, for example a stevia-to-sugar replacement ratio?

4 Eggs
2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 Cup melted butter
1/2 Cup coconut milk
1/4 Cup fresh or frozen unsweeted, shredded coconut
1 1/2 Cup sugar
2 Tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
1/4 Teaspoon salt

1) Preheat oven at 325 degrees.
2) In a mixing bowl, mix melted butter and sugar together.
3) Add eggs, one at a time with butter sugar. Mix well.
4) Add vanilla, baking powder, salt and coconut milk.
4) Blend all purpose flour and shredded coconut.
5) Grease cake pan with butter and sprinkle some flour around the sides of the cake pan.
6) Pour the cake batter in to the cake pan.
7) Bake for 1 1/2 hour.
8) Remove from the oven, wait until cake cools off before taking it out the cake pan.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)