Food Trip Friday 013: Arepa de Venezuela

Hello, dear FoodTrippers. My consultancy jobs are over and I am now back and ready for more foodtrips! This week I am featuring something I made borne out of a challenge by my dear Venezuelan friend, Luis Manuel. It's called arepa, a traditional delicacy and considered the national bread of Venezuela. It was my first time to make arepa when I accepted Luis Manuel's challenge and was excited to see if I could pull it off.

Arepa is a corn-based snack, made from corn flour, baked and lightly fried, and served with a multitude of fillings. For examples, combinations of black beans and meat; mashed mayonnaise, chicken and avocado; scrambled eggs with peppers tomatoes and onions, and a lot more. Arepas are surprisingly easy to make. You mix the corn flour with salt and water, cook it on a griddle and stuff it with whatever you have on hand. In my case, at that time, I had left over fried chicken and coleslaw salad. When my arepa "buns" are done, I scooped out a bit of the insides and spread butter on and stuffed them with my chicken-coleslaw filling and sprinkled with a bit of mozzarella cheese. Yum! These delicious self-contained arepas are excellent for breakfast, lunch or dinner. For me, arepas filled my hungry stomach up instantly.



In the future, I will make experiments to improve my arepa (prevent it from being dry) and cook up more yummy fillings. I hope Luis Manuel was here to sample the results, and I wonder if I would have gotten a passing grade? My husband, although it was his first time to eat arepas, said it wasn't bad at all.

A birthday dinner to remember

After several weeks of being busy with the international conference that I helped organised, I am finally free and ready to continue my food trips. I was relieved that the last of the participants left Phnom Penh on my husband's birthday. After sending them off, I immediately sprung into action and planned a simple dinner.

For our food, I decided to prepare my husband's favorite food. Nothing fancy, just his favorite samlor kari saramann, nom pang (local version of French baguette), beer, and of course, his birthday cake.

Cooking kari samlor saramann is a story in itself. It is easy to make, however, preparing the ingredients for the curry paste is quite tedious. Aside from picking the fresh ingredients from the market, you'll need the strength in pounding these herbs and spices into a curry paste.

Anyhow, when you've put on so much effort in making the food, it also follows that you set them in beautiful stoneware for a delightful dining experience. I tried something different this time. I set out the table in our living room and put out my best linens, usually reserved for special occasions such as this. And for a romantic finish, I lit dozens of tea lights.

It was a great intimate birthday dinner, just the two of us. I'm glad he loved every bit of it.

Wordless Wednesday 033: Giant shrimps of Kep

You're always on my mind!

Food Trip Friday 013: Steamed Fish

Again, a favorite fare whenever we are in Kep. Kim Ly's restaurant never fails to satisfy stomachs hungry for seafood!


Steamed fish with soy sauce and garlic, served on a bed of fresh herbs, cucumber, tomato, lettuce and onion. Ooh-la-la!

Food Trip Friday 012: Mok chaa mareth

One of the reasons why my husband and I keep on coming back to Kep:



Seafoods trip!
Above is our favorite, mok chaa mareth kchhay (fried squid with young peppercorn). Fresh squid caught the night before from the Gulf of Thailand, blended with oyster and chilli sauces, and spiced up with Kampot peppercorn grown in the lush mountains of Phnom Voar, the last refuge of Khmer Rouge soldiers. We washed down the spicy flavor with fresh coconut juice. Hayyy, heaven on earth!

I tried several times to cook this at home but I never got the taste right. Oh well, as wise folks say... try and try... and try again.

Food Trip Friday 011: Samlor kari saramann

A month ago, my husband came home from work and surprised me with a copy of From Spiders to Waterlilies: Creative Cambodian cooking with Friends. I squealed in delight! He and I, we love Khmer food and he knows how much I like experimenting in the kitchen. So one day, to show my appreciation to his sweet gesture, I made him samlor kari saramann (Khmer Muslim Beef Curry). I substituted beef with pork because we don't usually have beef in stock. I also added vegetables which are not present in the original recipe. It is easy to prepare but requires a lot of preparations like making the curry paste - pounding fresh lemon grass, coriander, ginger, garlic and shallots into paste. But it's all worth it.


My labor of love... need I say how much my husband loved it?

This dish is served with either rice or nompang, a local French bread, at Muslim as well as Buddhist weddings in Cambodia. I was told that it tastes even better the next day.

Come back on Sunday for the recipe.

Food Trip Friday 010: Otap and brownies

Nothing beats the feeling of getting not one, but two boxful of sweet goodies from a very dear friend, Redlan.



Although I didn't get any of those sweets, these two feisty borloloys (rascals) were the happy recipients. They told me over the phone that the otap and brownies were manamit guid (yummy) and that they brushed their teeth without so much prodding after wolfing down the treats (their Grandma's words) para indi kuno sakit ila teeth (to avoid toothache). *lol*

See those excited faces? Self control, Joshua, Beebop. Gotta have the pictures first.

Salamat guid, Red. Hope next year, magkitaay na guid kita ya.