Khmer Cake and Noodles

This food may look a bit strange to us foreigners, but the picture has two very popular Khmer dishes. The one on the left that is wrapped in banana leaves is called Khmer Cake. There is really nothing “cakey” about it, and not even sweet. It is rice cooked with egg and fried. The condiments of cucumber, shredded carrots, and other vegetables usually come with it. The small bag next to it holds a spicy sauce that it is dipped into when eaten. Our night guard, Vorn, was thoughtful and bought it for us to try. Since it was purchased at the village, we hesitated to eat it. But we didn’t want to hurt feelings, soooo we pinched a fairly small piece off just to say… “Yes, we tried it”! The other dish is noodles that again are dipped into the sauce that comes with it. Since the noodles are washed in the Mekong River, we chose not to try it. But we do like Khmer noodles and our cook, Darith, makes them for us. No, he doesn’t wash them in the river! Gail