Khmer Noodles – Nom Pan Chock Samloh Prahal

My first taste of these popular and tasty Khmer noodles was in a small roadside eatery about an hour outside of Siem Reap. We weren’t long into a one-day motorcycle tour up the Kulen Mountain (where Buddha is said to have set foot, no less) when our guide asked us one of the most important questions on any trip –

“Who wants breakfast”?

Let’s just say the speed of my hand shooting up far exceeded any speed we did on the bikes all day…

So without further ado, we pulled up a couple of stools and with a magical wave of the hand, three bowls of fresh rice noodle appeared immersed in a cool, creamy coconut and fish broth soup gravy (if in doubt, I name it gravy). The noodles were topped with a few bean sprouts, cucumber and sliced banana blossom, ready to be finished off with a selection of mysterious yet tasty  herbs for a satisfying and slurpy breakfast to start off what turned out to be a pretty awesome day.*

Now that the weather has got pretty warm, I thought it would be a great idea to try and recreate that fateful day, or at least those fateful noodles. Luckily, while we were in Cambodia, I picked up a copy of From Spiders to Waterlillies, a cookbook published by Friends International (an NGO working with children and youth throughout the region). And lo and behold, it holds within it the secrets of Khmer noodles – success!

The following recipe is adapted from said cookbook, with a few minor changes:

Khmer Noodles – Nom Pan Chock Samloh Prahal
(Serves 4)

Ingredients

For the Spice Paste

60g lemongrass, trimmed and using the tender white part (about 3 stalks)
1 tablespoon Fresh Galangal, chopped (about 8g)
1 tablespoon Fresh Tumeric, chopped (about 8g)
1 clove of garlic
2 kaffir lime leaves (good sized ones, about 3 – 4 inches/ 6 – 8 cm)
2 inch length of krachai (aka Chinese Keys or lesser galangal) , (1 Tsp/ 5g)

For the curry base

300 white fish fillets, poached
2 tbsp roasted peanuts (25g)
500 ml fish stock
250 ml Coconut milk
250 ml Coconut Cream
1 Tsp Shrimp Paste
2 Tbsp Fish Sauce
1 Tbsp Palm Sugar
Salt to taste

To Serve

300 – 400g thin rice noodles, cooked (I used a thick vermicelli, and used 150g dry noodles per serving, but use more if you’re hungry!)
1 cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
200g Beansprouts
About 16 green beans, sliced into small rounds (substituted for water lily root in the original recipe)
Fresh herbs such as coriander, Thai basil, or mint
100g picked cabbage* (optional)

*The original recipe calls for sliced banana blossom, which I didn’t have time to hunt down. I’ve substituted some picked red cabbage for crunch and a bit of acidity/ astringency which the banana blossom would add. If you want to make your own, salt 100g of cabbage to taste (start with a 1/2 teaspoon), then leave for about an hour. Then rinse off any excess salt, and add 50ml or rice or cider vinegar and 2 tsp sugar and leave to marinate for at least an hour.

To make the spice paste, combine all the paste ingredients in a small food processor and process to a fine paste, adding a tablespoon or two of water if it’s too dry. Alternatively if you’re feeling energetic, you can grind the ingredients by hand in a morter and pestle, starting with the harder stuff like lemongrass and galangal, then adding softer ingredients till it all forms a smooth paste.

The paste in the image below was made using a food processor…

Once your paste is made, you get to blend it all again, so if you’re doing this all by hand, you can go ahead and cancel your trip to the gym later! Using a food processor or mortar and pestle, process or pound the paste together with the cooked fish and the  peanuts “till it forms a lumpy paste” (that’s quoted from the book – perhaps not the most appetizing description, but accurate no less!).

 

Place the finished paste in a pot together with the remaining ingredients (so the fish stock, coconut milk and cream, shrimp paste, fish sauce and palm sugar) and bring to a boil, giving it a good stir to make sure the shrimp paste in particular is all incorporated smoothly. Once the mixture has come tot the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for another 10 minutes, then remove from the heat.

While the curry stock is simmering, you can cook your rice noodles and get the garnishes and other ingredients ready.

When you’re ready to serve, place a serving of noodles in a bowl