Asian street food - Khmer fast food - Cambodia street food - Fried fish ...

Asian street food - Khmer fast food - Cambodia street food - Fried fish and Potato food 2019 🐋🐚

Asian street food - Khmer fast food - Cambodia street food - Fried fish and Potato food 2019 🐋🐚

Cambodian ginger fish is crispy fried fish topped with ginger and salted soybean; it’s crispy, tangy with a hint of sweetness and a lot of bite. However, I think ginger is one of those food items where either you love it, or you hate it. I obviously belong to the former; I can’t get enough of it. When I’m sick, I make my chicken soup with ginger and shitake mushroom. I would also boil some hot water, place a few pieces of crushed ginger, and turn it into ginger green tea. Of course, with a little bit of manuka honey for sweetness and to boost my immune system in order to combat the cold. I am allergic to most cold medication (I get hives or rashes depending on which type), so for me, the only way to battle my illness is through natural remedies. In my opinion, based on my own personal experiences, I think it works. Most people battle the flu for weeks, I conquer mine in 2-3 days.

Benefits of Ginger

This should come as no surprise, ginger has been used in Chinese Medicine for thousands of years and is said to help soothe digestive disturbances, alleviate nausea, calm coughing, reduce fever, relieve muscle aches and pain, lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

Ginger is also used as a preventative measure in some cases. For example, before visiting the hospital, either to visit a sick friend or a friend who’s undergoing surgery, my mother would always force me to either drink her ginger tea concoction or bring some ginger essential oil. She would tell me to add a few drops (2-3) of it to my drinking water, saying, ‘I don’t want you coming home with a staph infection or something!’

I usually don’t argue with her logic because she’s just looking out for me. So I do it. I don’t know if it helps, but I never once got sick when visiting sick friends or the hospital. Is it a placebo effect or does it actually work? I don’t know for sure, but if it’s working, I’m not going to stop this ritual anytime soon.

Ginger in Cambodian Recipes and Beyond

For years, fresh ginger was something I used in many Cambodian recipes. Living with my parents, all they ate were Cambodian food so I thought ginger was an ingredient mostly prevalent in Asian cuisine as I hardly see it used in Canadian cuisine either in restaurants or while enjoying dinner at my Caucasian friend’s home.

However, lately, while trying out a couple of fusion restaurants during my travels, and the ones that have recently popped up in Canada, I’m starting to view ginger in a new light. Beyond Asian cuisine. Ginger’s light spiciness, coupled with its tangy freshness, and soft, mellow sweetness complement many recipes from sweet to savoury.

Although most Asians recipes call for ginger in fried rice, dipping sauces and stocks, in Cambodian cooking, we also use ginger in many of our dessert recipes. And beyond Asian recipes, ginger is actually quite delicious in lemonade, especially when mixed with maple syrup. When using maple syrup to make glazes for vegetables or meat, infusing ginger into the mix gives the glaze a certain tanginess/spiciness to the flavour, making it bolder. Although paired well with any vegetables, ginger has a natural affinity to meats, poultry, and fish. I especially love the pairing of ginger and fish. The delicate flavour of the fish is perfectly balanced by the tanginess of the ginger. You just can’t go wrong with ginger and fish. Which is why I love this Cambodian Ginger Fish with Salted Soybean recipe.

Ginger Fish. A Great Combination.

In Asian cooking, there are probably many variations of fish and tomato recipes, but you won’t find many that calls for fish and ginger. Not that I know of anyway. Since we don’t use tomato or any lime in this recipe, it’s not sweet and spicy, but more salty and tangy with a bit of a kick. Although traditionally, this recipe calls for freshwater fish, I substituted that with fresh fish from the seafood stall at my local farmer’s market. Any fish will do for this Cambodian Trey Chean Choun recipe. I prefer whole fish, however, you can substitute with any fish fillet of your choosing. Like many other Cambodian recipes, it’s incredibly easy to make with minimal ingredients. If you want a healthier main dish, you can pan fry the fish instead of breading and deep frying. I love the crispiness of fish deep fried, so I will be using peanut oil. My ‘I’m tryingto go healthy, but failed‘ oil of choice.