Amok or Cambodian Fish Curry
Have you ever tried Cambodian cuisine? It is a cuisine that deserves to be better known because it is simply delicious! I would like to share with you a typical dish of the Cambodian cuisine: the Amok or Cambodian Fish Curry.
In addition, if you do not eat very spicy, Cambodian cuisine is less spicy than Thai or Indian cuisine. In this recipe, you have the option to adjust the amount of peppers.
What is “Amok”?
The “amok” is a traditional dish of Cambodian cuisine. It is a curry soufflé and steamed in a banana leaf. It is generally prepared with fish but it can also be found with crab meat, especially in the Kampot region, where the pepper that bears the same name originates.
Apart from the fact that this curry is cooked in a banana leaf, the other particularity of this curry is that it adds eggs in the preparation, which gives it a slightly soufflé texture.
To make the amok, you don’t need to buy ready-made curry paste. With only 6 ingredients, you can make kroeung, which is the curry paste traditionally used as the basis of many recipes in Cambodian cuisine.
The essential ingredients
This recipe is not that complicated to make. The hardest part is getting all the ingredients together. Here are some explanations and tips to replace some of them.
- Fish : Choose a neutral fish with white flesh such as cod, hake or whiting. Preferably select thick fillets.
- Lemongrass : Lemongrass can be found fresh or frozen. It is essential for the preparation of curry paste or kroeung.
- Galangal : Galangal is a root that resembles ginger. However, its taste is different from ginger. It is found in Asian grocery stores fresh or frozen. If you can’t find one, you can replace it with ginger, the taste will be different from galangal but just as delicious.
- Kaffir lime leaves : Kaffir is a small lime from Southeast Asia. Kaffir lime leaves come from the kaffir tree. They have a smell and aroma peculiar to Southeast Asian cuisine. It is an essential ingredient in this recipe. They can be found fresh, frozen or even dried.
- Thai shallots: Thai shallots are small shallots about the size of a clove of garlic. They have a finer taste than European shallots. You can replace them with European shallots but in this case reduce the quantity.
- Turmeric : You can buy it in powder or fresh. Be careful to protect your hands if you handle fresh turmeric because it stains a lot. It is turmeric that brings the orange color to the curry.
- Shrimp paste : It is a paste which, as its name suggests, is made from fermented shrimp. Not very appetizing! Indeed this paste has a very pronounced smell of shrimp, it is therefore necessary to put very little but its taste perfectly enhances the amok and other curry of Southeast Asian cuisine. If you can’t find shrimp paste, that’s okay, add a little more salt and / or fish sauce.
- Banana leaves : Banana leaves are the highlight of this recipe! If you can’t find one, you can cook the amok or fish curry in ramekins. Find below the pictures of the recipe to see how to fold the banana leaves.
- Fish sauce : The fish sauce is used to season and especially to salt the dish. Today it is easy to find fish sauce in most supermarkets. If you can’t find one, just add a little salt instead.
Recipe for Amok or Cambodian Fish Curry
For about 4 portions you need the following ingredients.
Ingredients
For the Cambodian curry paste or kroeung
- 4 lemongrass stems, only the white / pale green part
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 5 cm galangal
- 6 Kaffir lime leaves
- 5 Thai shallots or 1-2 “normal” shallots
- 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric or 5 cm of fresh turmeric
- 5 ml of water, if you use a blender
For the chili paste.
- 6 whole dried chilis
- 30 cl of water
For the amok
- 500 g of fish
- 300 ml of coconut milk + 4 tablespoons
- 2 eggs
- 4 handfuls of fresh spinach
- 4 Kaffir lime leaves
- 1 teaspoon of shrimp paste (optional)
- 4 banana leaves (optional) or ramekins
- Fish sauce
- Lime
Find the recipe on video!
Preparation
Start by soaking whole dried chili peppers in water so that they soften and then prepare the chili paste.
For the kroeung, remove the first layer of the lemongrass stems and cut the stems finely. Cut only the white part. Reserve the top of the stem for an infusion for example.
Peel the galangal, garlic cloves, shallots and turmeric (if using fresh turmeric). Roughly chop each ingredient. Remove the central part of the Kaffir leaves and cut the leaves roughly. Place all the ingredients in a mortar and crush with a pestle to obtain a homogeneous paste.
To save time, you can also place all the kroeung ingredients in a blender and blend, adding a little water.
Drain the dried chillies softened in the water, then blend them to obtain a chili paste.
Cut the fish into large cubes. Then place them in a salad bowl. Add the coconut milk, shrimp paste, 4 tablespoons of kroeung, 1 or 2 tablespoons of chili paste according to your taste and 1 tablespoon of fish sauce. Mix well.
Add the eggs and fish. Mix again.
Wash the banana leaves and cut them into a circle. Heat them over a cooking plate for 1-2 minutes to make them softer and they won’t break when bending.
Form a basket with the banana leaves. Then add a handful of fresh spinach to the bottom of each basket. Finally, pour the marinated fish into the small banana leave baskets, filling 3/4 full. Steam for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, add a spoon of coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves cut into thin strips. Steam for another 10 minutes.
Serve with Thai sticky rice and a lime wedge.
Pictures
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Amok or Cambodian Fish Curry
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Ingredients
For the Cambodian curry paste or kroeung
- 4 lemongrass stems only the white / pale green part
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 5 cm galangal
- 6 Kaffir lime leaves
- 5 Thai shallots or 1-2 “normal” shallots
- 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric or 5 cm of fresh turmeric
- 5 ml of water if you use a blender
For the chili paste
- 6 whole dried chilis
- 30 cl of water
For the amok
- 500 g of fish
- 300 ml of coconut milk + 4 tablespoons
- 2 eggs
- 4 handfuls of fresh spinach
- 4 Kaffir lime leaves
- 1 teaspoon of shrimp paste optional
- 4 banana leaves optional or ramekins
- Fish sauce
- Lime
Instructions
- Start by soaking whole dried chili peppers in water so that they soften and then prepare the chili paste.
- For the kroeung, remove the first layer of the lemongrass stems and cut the stems finely. Cut only the white part. Reserve the top of the stem for an infusion for example.
- Peel the galangal, garlic cloves, shallots and turmeric (if using fresh turmeric). Roughly chop each ingredient. Remove the central part of the Kaffir leaves and cut the leaves roughly. Place all the ingredients in a mortar and crush with a pestle to obtain a homogeneous paste.
- To save time, you can also place all the kroeung ingredients in a blender and blend, adding a little water.
- Drain the dried chillies softened in the water, then blend them to obtain a chili paste.
- Cut the fish into large cubes. Then place them in a salad bowl. Add the coconut milk, shrimp paste, 4 tablespoons of kroeung, 1 or 2 tablespoons of chili paste according to your taste and 1 tablespoon of fish sauce. Mix well.
- Add the eggs and fish. Mix again.
- Wash the banana leaves and cut them into a circle. Heat them over a cooking plate for 1-2 minutes to make them softer and they won’t break when bending.
- Form a basket with the banana leaves. Then add a handful of fresh spinach to the bottom of each basket. Finally, pour the marinated fish into the small banana leave baskets, filling 3/4 full. Steam for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, add a spoon of coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves cut into thin strips. Steam for another 10 minutes.
- Serve with Thai sticky rice and a lime wedge.
