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Vietnamese Bitter Melon Salad Recipe. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Vietnamese Bitter Melon Salad Recipe with Dried Shrimp, Roasted Peanuts and Fragrant Mint

This Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe with dried shrimp, roasted peanuts and fragrant mint makes goi khô qua tôm khô in Vietnamese, a salad with the flavours, textures and aromas that are so beloved in northern Southeast Asian cuisines. An ingredient favoured for its medicinal properties, bitter melon or bitter gourd is an acquired taste but the bitterness can be reduced by soaking.

Like the traditional savoury ground pork-stuffed bitter melon soup recipe for Cambodia’s sngao mreah that we recently shared, which is found in very similar forms in neighbouring Vietnam and Thailand, this Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe with dried shrimp, roasted peanuts and fragrant mint also has cousins across its borders in Cambodia and Thailand.

However, unlike recipes for Vietnamese spring rolls, bánh mì, bánh xèo or, say, a Vietnamese chicken curry, which you’ll find in almost every Vietnamese cookbook, this Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe with dried shrimp rarely features in Vietnamese cookbooks, and perhaps it’s because bitter melon is such an acquired taste.

I like Vietnamese-Australian chef Luke Nguyen’s Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe with dried shrimp for Goi khô qua tôm khô from his beautiful Vietnamese cookbook The Songs of Sapa, Stories and Recipes from Vietnam – with a few  tweaks. But before I tell you about this Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe, I have a favour to ask.

Grantourismo is reader-funded. If you’ve cooked our Vietnamese, Thai or Cambodian recipes, or any of our recipes for that matter, please consider supporting our work so we can continue to create delicious content for you.

The most helpful way is to make a small donation or monthly pledge to support our epic, original, first-of-its-kind Cambodian Culinary History and Cambodian Cookbook on Patreon, which can start from as little as US$2 a month. We’re documenting the stories and recipes of cooks across Cambodia so if you support us you’ll also be helping to preserve Cambodian recipes at risk of being lost.

Other ways of supporting Grantourismo include using our links to buy travel insurance, rent a car or campervan or motorhome, book accommodation, or book a tour on Klook or Get Your Guide. You could also browse our Grantourismo store for gifts for food lovers, including fun reusable cloth face masks you’ll actually want to wear to fun gifts for food lovers designed with Terence’s images. 

More options include buying us a coffee, although we’ll use our coffee money to buy cooking ingredients for recipe testing, or purchasing something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers, James Beard award-winning cookbooks, cookbooks by Australian chefs, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, travel books to inspire wanderlust, and gifts for Asian food lovers and picnic lovers. Now let me tell you a bit about this Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe.

Vietnamese Bitter Melon Salad Recipe with Dried Shrimp, Roasted Peanuts and Fragrant Mint

As I mentioned in our Cambodian bitter melon soup recipe, there are records of bitter melons or bitter gourds, along with other gourds, such as the ivy gourd and wax gourd, on ancient pre-Angkorian and Khmer Empire temple inscriptions, so we know bitter melons have been eaten in the region for at least 1,500 years, maybe longer.

While the younger generations in Vietnam and Cambodia might not be lovers of the bitter, sour and pungent flavours that their ancestors obviously enjoyed so much, bitter melon salads and soups are eaten by today’s sweet-loving youths for their medicinal properties, which make them so healthy, plus they’re made more palatable by soaking the gourds in salt water to reduce the bitterness.

In the introduction to his recipe in, Luke Nguyen confesses to not being a fan of the dish as a child: “In Vietnamese culture and medicine, food is referred to as having ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ effects on the body. This doesn’t refer to the temperature of the body but rather the state of well-being. Fried food, for example, is ‘hot’ so you need to eat ‘cooling’ foods to balance the body.”

“As you can imagine, the ‘cooling’ foods are all the ones that kids hate to eat,” the chef elaborates. “Bitter melon, winter melon, and pennywort leaves are all cooling foods and are often used in soups that are particularly nourishing for the body. I always despised these dishes as a child, but now these foods are comforting for me.”

Other ingredients in this Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe provide fragrance, textures and contrasting flavours, such as the funkiness from the fish sauce, sourness from the lime juice, the bite of heat from the chillies, and sweetness from sugar, so that the bitterness of the gourd is not the dominant flavour when everything is combined, but rather one flavour amongst many that combine to create complexity.

Vietnamese Bitter Melon Salad Recipe. Copyright © 2021 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Another thing to note is that you’d never make this Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe to eat the salad on its own. Rather, it would be eaten as part of a shared family meal, with steamed rice, and – depending on the size of your family or group of companions – there’d be at least two or three other dishes, including a soup, perhaps some stir-fry vegetables, maybe some sort of protein.

Rather than tuck into a big bowl of salad, you’d probably only eat a couple of spoons of the stuff. If I haven’t put you off – it really is delicious, trust me! – just a few tips to making this Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe with dried shrimp, roasted peanuts and fragrant mint.

Tips to Making this Vietnamese Bitter Melon Salad Recipe with Dried Shrimp, Roasted Peanuts and Fragrant Mint

I only have a few tips for making this Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe with dried shrimp, roasted peanuts and fragrant mint. Firstly, if you’re not a fan of bitter flavours, you’ll want to soak the bitter gourd in salt water for longer than the requisite 20 minutes or so that locals soak gourds in water for here in Southeast Asian.

The Vietnamese salad dressing also helps! Luke Nguyen uses his Aunty Nine’s Salad Dressing, which is pretty much a standard Vietnamese dressing (recipe within the recipe, below), except his aunty uses lemon juice instead of lime juice, which is typically used.

I’ve used lime juice, partly because lime juice is used more in Vietnamese cooking and we have an abundance of affordable limes here, whereas lemons are rare and expensive. Feel free to use whatever you can get hold of, whether lemons or limes. Nguyen uses four tablespoons of lemon juice, which I think results in a dressing that’s too sour, but he also uses two tablespoons of sugar to counteract that, which I think is too much sweetness.

Vietnamese Bitter Melon Salad Recipe. Copyright © 2021 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Nguyen also uses pickled carrot and daikon in the salad, which is a quick pickle that you’ll be familiar with from banh mi and skewers, which it often accompanies, however, I use fresh carrot and either daikon or cucumber, as I don’t think even more sour flavours are needed plus I prefer the added crunch from the fresh veg rather than soft pickles. Instead I sometimes garnish the salad with pickled shallots.

By the same token, the chef also serves nước mắm chấm, a fish sauce-based dipping sauce that’s also found in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand on the side of the salad. Made from fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic cloves, bird’s eye chilli, and lime juice, it’s one of our favourite condiments in the world and we eat it with absolutely everything.

However, with a very similar salad dressing used on what’s already a bitter and sour salad, it seems redundant or even overkill, depending on how you look at things. If you’re making a Vietnamese feast, you’ll probably make some nước mắm chấm for the table anyway. But I don’t believe you need it as an accompaniment to this Vietnamese bitter melon salad.

When it comes to fish sauce, we often get asked what fish sauce we recommend. As we are Southeast Asia based and have access to fish sauces from across the region, we try to use Cambodian fish sauce for Cambodian recipes, Thai fish sauce for Thai recipes, and Vietnamese fish sauce for Vietnamese recipes.

But for readers living outside Southeast Asia who don’t have access to a lot of fish sauces, we tend to recommend Thailand’s Megachef for a quality fish sauce for most Southeast Asian recipes, as its sodium levels are consistent.

However, our American friends often recommend the American brand Red Boat Fish Sauce, which is produced in Vietnam, yet not actually available in Southeast Asia, so I haven’t used it and therefore find it hard to recommend, but by all means give it a try if you see it.

Vietnamese Bitter Melon Salad Recipe

Vietnamese Bitter Melon Salad Recipe. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Vietnamese Bitter Melon Salad Recipe

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This Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe with dried shrimp, roasted peanuts and fragrant mint makes a salad with the flavours, textures and scent that are so beloved in northern Southeast Asian cuisines. An ingredient favoured for its medicinal properties, bitter melon or bitter gourd is an acquired taste but the bitterness can be reduced by soaking.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Course: Lunch, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Servings: 4
Calories: 124kcal
Author: Lara Dunston

Ingredients

  • 1 bitter melon around 350-400 g, washed, de-seeded, thinly sliced
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 50 g dried shrimp
  • 4 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 4 garlic cloves crushed, finely chopped
  • 1 bird’s eye chilli finely sliced
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 medium carrot peeled, julienned
  • 1 medium daikon or cucumber peeled, julienned
  • 1 tbsp Vietnamese mint leaves, roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp roasted peanuts

Instructions

  • One hour before you begin to make this salad, immerse the bitter melon slices in a bowl of salt water (water and two teaspoons of salt) for a minimum of one hour although several hours will remove more bitterness, and in a small separate dish soak the dried shrimp in water.
  • In a glass jar with a screw-cap, make the Vietnamese salad dressing by combining the lime juice, caster sugar, fish sauce, two finely chopped garlic cloves, and finely sliced bird’s eye chilli, screwing the lid on tight, and shaking the dressing well to dissolve the sugar, then set aside.
  • Drain the dried shrimp, pat dry and set aside, then heat the cooking oil in a small frying pan, fry the shrimp for five minutes or so until crisp, add two finely chopped cloves of garlic, combine, and fry for another few minutes or so. Stir continuously so that the garlic browns and is fragrant, but doesn’t burn, then transfer to a small cold dish and set aside.
  • Drain the bitter melon slices and pat dry, then transfer to a large mixing bowl with the julienned carrot and cucumber/daikon, fried shrimp and garlic mixture, salad dressing, half the fresh mint, and one tablespoon of roasted peanuts, and combine well.
  • Transfer to a serving bowl or plate and garnish with the remaining peanuts and fresh mint.

Nutrition

Calories: 124kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 143mg | Sodium: 2363mg | Potassium: 462mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 2932IU | Vitamin C: 62mg | Calcium: 110mg | Iron: 2mg

Please do let us know in the comments below if you make this Vietnamese bitter melon salad recipe with dried shrimp, roasted peanuts and fragrant mint, as we’d love to know how it turns out for you.

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.

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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)

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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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