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A Culinary Travel Writing and Photography Tour in Cambodia. Sala Lodges, Siem Reap, Cambodia. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

A Culinary Travel Writing and Photography Tour in Cambodia

Last month we told you about EAT LEARN LOVE CAMBODIA, a culinary travel writing and photography tour that we’re hosting with Asia-based Backyard Travel, starting in Siem Reap on 22 May 2015 for 8 days and nights. We finally have more details for you.

Please forgive the delay. We’ve been taking our time to carefully craft a very special itinerary for you that is crammed with delicious activities and enriching experiences. Now that everything is locked in we want to share some of the highlights, along with the tour price and inclusions.

There’s a lot of information in my first post on EAT LEARN LOVE CAMBODIA, our culinary travel writing and photography tour, which I won’t repeat here, and there are even more details on the Backyard Travel site, where you can enquire about and book the tour.

For now, here are the highlights of our culinary travel writing and photography tour in Cambodia and what you can expect to do if you join us in May:

Stay in atmospheric, Cambodian-style boutique accommodation

You’ll stay at our favourite, small, luxury boutique hotels, including five nights at beautiful Sala Lodges in Siem Reap (above), a little village of painstakingly-restored antique Khmer timber houses that the hotel owners rescued from around Cambodia and reassembled in lush gardens of lemongrass, rice and palms. In Battambang, we’ll spend two nights at the lovely family-owned Maisons Wat Kor, located in a tranquil village on the edge of town, where teak houses built in a traditional Khmer style with wooden verandas overlook tropical gardens. Both properties are intimate, have stunning swimming pools, serve fine food, and ooze character and charm.

Experience a traditional family homestay in a remote rural village

As delightful as the boutique hotels are, we’ve also arranged for you to experience the real thing – an overnight family home-stay in traditional timber Khmer houses in a village located by remote Banteay Chhmar, one of Cambodia’s most mysterious and enigmatic yet rarely visited temple sites. Here you’ll get a chance to closely observe and participate in village life. We’ll enjoy a picnic lunch at the temples, an ox cart ride through the rice paddies, a rustic local meal for dinner, traditional music performed by villagers, and see silk woven on old looms.

Sample authentic street food and savour refined Cambodian cuisine

While scrumptious daily breakfasts are provided at each hotel you’ll also eat typical breakfasts with the locals at soups stalls, morning markets and neighbourhood eateries. We’ll graze on tasty snacks on street food tours in Siem Reap and Battambang led by a Cambodian cook and a Cambodian foodie respectively, and dine on refined Cambodian, Khmer and Pan-Asian cuisine at some of the country’s best restaurants, including Cuisine Wat Damnak, Chanrey Tree, Sugar Palm, Marum, and Jaan Bai. You’ll also enjoy rustic home-style cooking at Banteay Chhmar.

Discover the secrets of cooking Cambodian and Khmer cuisine

Cambodian and Khmer cuisines (there is a difference) are much maligned and misunderstood and restaurateurs who pass off crowd-pleasing, toned-down Thai-Cambodian fusion dishes as their own are partly to blame – along with unadventurous tourists unwilling to try the pungent, bitter and sour flavours of Khmer food. On tours of lively local markets you’ll learn about the local produce, herbs, spices, roots, pastes, and other ingredients – everything from kroeung to prahok. You’ll meet the chefs of the restaurants where we dine, such as groundbreaking Joannès Rivière of Cuisine Wat Damnak, undoubtedly Cambodia’s best restaurant, and you’ll get lessons in cooking Khmer cuisine at the beautiful country home of Kiwi-Cambodian chef Kethana Dunnett (Sugar Palm), who consulted to Gordon Ramsay and Luke Nguyen when they produced TV series here. You’ll see noodles hand-pulled at a Chinese dumpling and noodle joint and Khmer desserts made in a village home as well as a Khmer dessert café.

Learn to make Khmer cocktails, taste rice spirits and try Battambang wine

In a village home outside Battambang you’ll see how traditional rice spirit is distilled, while on the road to Banan Temple we’ll stop at Cambodia’s only commercial winery to try their red wine and ginger juice. You’ll get to do a tasting of premium rice spirits that have been infused with local herbs and spices at the smart tasting rooms at Sombai in Siem Reap, where their beautiful hand-painted bottles have become a must-buy souvenir, and after learn how to use Cambodian herbs, roots and spices to make Khmer cocktails during a fun class in which you also get to invent a cocktail of your own. (Note: ‘mocktails’ can also be made).

Visit cottage industries to see artisanal producers practicing their culinary crafts

During visits to the tiny workshops and ‘factories’ of artisanal families operating out of their village homes, you’ll learn firsthand how Cambodians continue to make traditional rice paper, rice noodles, rice spirit, desserts, and Cambodia’s famous fermented fish paste prahok, using the techniques of their ancestors. You’ll also gain an appreciation for the fragility of these traditions – some may be lost with the next generation. A dessert maker we’ll visit is the last woman left making the labour-intensive sweets she produces in a village once famous for the coconut and palm sugar treats.

Engage with locals in villages and experience life in the countryside

On a stroll through the rice paddies outside Siem Reap we’ll visit village homes and interact with locals to learn about the challenges of rural life while on breezy tuk tuk tours into the bucolic countryside around Battambang, we’ll see seasonal produce growing, farmers toiling their land, and families fishing on the river. We’ll chat to locals foraging for the herbs used in Cambodia’s beloved soups and to villagers selling the produce they’ve grown and specialties they’ve made by the side of the road. These include fish paste and chillies grilled in banana leaves and sticky rice and black bean in bamboo barbecued over smoky fires. You’ll hurtle through the lush rice fields on an exhilarating ride on the ‘Bamboo Train’ outside Battambang.

Explore spectacular Khmer Empire temples including stupendous Angkor Wat

You’ll savour the sunrise over spectacular Angkor Wat (a must-do experience!) and after amble around this sublime 12th-century temple that symbolises Mount Meru, the centre of the Hindu universe, and dedicated to Vishnu. We’ll wander the enormous temple city of Angkor Thom, established by King Jayavarman II as the capital until the 17th-century; examine the intricate bas-reliefs at The Bayon, famous its serene smiling face towers, to learn about the culinary traditions of the Khmer Empire; and scramble around Ta Prohm, where the roots of a silk-cotton tree and strangler fig have taken over the temple. Along the way, you’ll learn about the rich Khmer Empire history from our Cambodian Backyard Travel Guide.

Discover remote, romantic, rarely-visited archaeological sites

We’ll get out to the pretty, pink, 10th-century temple Banteay Srei, 20kms from Angkor, which is covered in exquisite carvings and decorative details in superb condition, as well as romantic, moss-dappled 12th century Beng Mealea, 40kms east of Angkor, which, while in a dilapidated state of ruin is one of the most atmospheric temples, shaded by towering silk-cotton trees and strangler figs. We’ll also visit the 9th-century Roluos group of three temples, 12kms from Siem Reap on the site of the early capital of Hariharalya, where the highlight is the lovely pyramid temple of Bakong, dedicated to Shiva, and encircled by a wide moat. We’ll also drive 100km northwest of Siem Reap to the mysterious Banteay Chhmar, a vast ruinous temple, larger than Angkor Wat that few people visit due to its remote location near the Thai border. In Battambang, we’ll also visit two tiny but alluring temples.

Learn about the compelling history, culture and arts of Cambodia

No, it’s not all about food and temples! Through carefully chosen experiences, you’ll learn about everything from the brutal Khmer Rouge period that took power in 1975 on a visit to the Landmine Museum, which provides support and schooling to landmine victims, and contemporary Cambodian culture and arts, during a performance of the Phare Cambodian circus, which combines circus tricks and acrobatics with traditional and modern theatre, music, dance, and more, to tell stories of Cambodian life.

Develop your culinary travel writing and photography skills

The experiences above have been designed to inspire as much as serve as material for your writing. The trip will be punctuated by short, punchy, bite-sized lessons on techniques to develop your food and travel writing skills, whether you’re a beginner, amateur writer with more serious aspirations, food/travel blogger, established storyteller, or photographer or creative wanting to develop their writing. I’ll set small, manageable writing tasks based upon the experiences that can easily be completed each day. Combine them at the end and you’ll have the makings of a first draft story. We do appreciate you’re on holidays, so it’s up to you whether you complete them during the tour. If you do, we’ll set aside workshop time on the final day. After the trip you can email me your story for feedback if you like. While the focus is on writing, Terence will join us to offer tips and advice on temple, portrait and food photography. There will also be time to pick our brains on what it’s like to be a full-time professional writer-photographer team.

Enjoy some downtime: refreshing swims, fish spas, indulgent massages and sunset drinks

There will be a few early starts so we can catch some sunrises – early morning is when the temples are at their best and there are fewer crowds – and days will be hot and humid. Therefore, we’ve scheduled downtime for resting, writing, and refreshing dips in the pool, and if you’re out in the middle of the day it will probably be for lunch. There’ll also be some time at your own leisure, including a couple of meals, and we’re happy to make suggestions as to where you can eat, as well as other things you can do, from pamper yourself with a massage or treatment to delight in a ticklish fish spa. We’ve also scheduled a few sunsets over the rice fields that can be savoured with a drink in hand.

Our Culinary Travel Writing and Photography Tour in a nutshell

  • destination – Cambodia: arrive in Siem Reap (5 nights), visit Banteay Chhmar (1 night) and Battambang (2 nights), before departing from Siem Reap.
  • dates – from Friday 22 May 2015 for 8 days/nights until Saturday 30 May.
  • size – this is a small group tour with space for 12 people maximum, as we want to ensure this is an intimate experience.
  • price – US$1998 / AUD 2,449 per person, based upon two people sharing, however, there’s a single supplement if you’d like a room on your own; please let us know soon.
  • inclusions – airport transfers, transport (air-conditioned vehicles for longer trips; tuk tuks for short excursions), boutique accommodation, almost all meals, all activities and experiences in the itinerary, English-speaking Cambodian guides, entrance fees, and writing and photography tuition and support.
  • excluded – flights, visas ($30 obtained either in advance or upon arrival depending on nationality), travel insurance, personal expenses, tips.

If you have any questions about our culinary travel writing and photography tour then feel free to ask in the comments below or visit the Backyard Travel site to make enquiries or book the tour.

We hope to see you in Siem Reap!

Our Culinary Travel Writing and Photography Tour has been featured in:

AFAR magazine, USA
The Independent newspaper, UK
LA Times, USA
Silverkris, the Singapore Airlines magazine
The National newspaper, United Arab Emirates
Wanderlust magazine, UK
BK Asia City
Tourism Cambodia
Noodlies
Travel Troll
Skylighttrain

THIS RETREAT WAS HELD IN MAY 2015. 

UPDATED: JULY 2016

Next Retreats and Tours

Next up: the 10-day Travel and Food Writing and Photography Retreat (1-10 Oct) and a 9-day Cambodia Culinary Tour (23-31 Oct) in October 2016. Following requests from readers, we are also setting dates for another Cambodia Travel and Food Writing and Photography Retreat and Cambodia Culinary Tour in November 2016 and again in May 2017, as well as intensive 3-day monsoon writing and photography retreats in September. Dates coming soon!

Making an Enquiry or Booking

To make a booking or learn more email us at info@grantourismotravels.com for a full itinerary, price list, and payment information. To book your place, a US$500 deposit is required.

Media and Blogger Affiliate Programme

If you are a food/travel blogger and would like to be part of our affiliate programme or if you’d like to write about our Cambodia Culinary Tour and need a media release and hi-res images, please email us on the address above.

Sponsors and Candidates

We are offering one sponsored spot to young Cambodians on our Cambodia Travel and Food Writing and Photography Retreat and Cambodia Culinary Tour. If you’d like to nominate a Cambodian candidate for these or future retreats and tours, or you’re a business or individual who’d like to sponsor a place, please email us on the same address above.

Want More of an Idea as to What to Expect?

Click through to salivate over the these mouthwatering images from our previous culinary travel writing and photography tours. Check out our Instagram feed for images from the experiences. Also see our dedicated Siem Reap Retreats and Tours website with more information.

Support our Cambodia Cookbook & Culinary History Book with a donation or monthly pledge on Patreon.

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About Lara Dunston

A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kurt VanVolkenburgh says

    March 4, 2015 at 6:36 pm

    Have a great tour! Some of your group might benefit from learning some “survival” Khmer. This video might be of inspiration to them; https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-0jtIU6ViX4.
    Cheers, Kurt

  2. Madeleine says

    March 12, 2015 at 9:25 am

    Hi Lara,

    I’d love to know when you do this again!

    Thanks
    Madeleine

  3. Lara Dunston says

    March 12, 2015 at 12:33 pm

    Hi Madeleine – you can’t make it in May? We still have some places available. Otherwise, we are hoping to run a second one in October/November. If you like I can email you when we do. Otherwise, if you sign up to our new newsletter, we’ll announce new dates there. It’s going to be so much fun!

  4. Gale Criswell says

    March 15, 2015 at 10:38 pm

    Hi Lara,
    I have signed up for the Culinary Tour in May and am really looking forward to meeting you. I lived in Phnom Penh in the 1960s and returned to Cambodia for a visit in 2009 and most recently 3 weeks on a private tour in 2011. Your tours sounds wonderful. I’m most interested in photography, so please let Terence know. I’d love to hear from you. Gale

  5. Lara Dunston says

    March 16, 2015 at 8:59 pm

    Hello Gale
    How lovely! Looking forward to meeting you too!
    Wow, I bet you have incredible stories from Phnom Penh in the 1960s! Would love to hear them.
    The tour is going to be so much. Though I warn you – it’s jam-packed, but crammed with things you wouldn’t normally get to do if you came on your own. Terence will be there for you – he’ll be popping in and out during the trip, doing workshops, offering advice, and providing one-on-one support when we’re out and about at markets, eating in restos and on the road. But please do let us know if you have any questions now or anytime between now and then. Just leave them here and we’ll answer them as that might help others in the group too.
    Lara

  6. Gale Criswell says

    March 17, 2015 at 1:38 am

    Hi Lara,
    This is my second time to try to send a message. Not sure what happened to the last. I’ll be on the Culinary Tour in May and just wanted to introduce myself. Hope to hear from you.
    Thanks.
    Gale

  7. Gale Criswell says

    March 17, 2015 at 6:25 am

    Hi Lara,
    Thanks for the reply. Yes, Phnom Penh in the 1960s was memorable! I can see you’ve really put a lot into the tour–I’ve been looking for something special and I’m sure this is it! I’ll be staying in Siem Reap for a few days after and also in Phnom Penh at The Plantation for a few days. Do you have suggestions for a guide and/or photographer who might take me places in Phnom Penh? I’ve already been to most of the usual tour places, but would like a guide for more everyday life experiences. By the way, I sent you a Friend request on Facebook.
    Gale

  8. Lara Dunston says

    March 17, 2015 at 9:54 am

    Hi Gale
    Your comment is above. They don’t go up automatically – we get so much spam, so we have to approve them – and we had a power outage as the line was cut from Thailand to Siem Reap, so we were a bit slow to get comments up. Lovely to hear from you and do let us know if you have any questions.
    best regards
    Lara

  9. Kerry (Goodtrippers) says

    May 18, 2015 at 6:48 pm

    What a fantastic sounding trip! Love learning new skills, particularly cooking, and not many places better to do this than in the lovely town of Siem Reap!

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Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
#blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #picoftheday 
#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

#recipe #recipes #eggs #eggslover #breakfasteggs #WeekendEggs #egg #breakfast #brunch #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #lookingforapublisher #writingacookbook  #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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