Pork and Crab Congee with XO Sauce Recipe by Chef Christine Manfield. Copyright 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

What to Cook this Week from Pork and Crab Congee with XO Sauce to Russian Buckwheat Kasha

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What to Cook this Week is a new weekly series that we’ll publish every Monday with suggestions for weeknight meals from the Grantourismo archives for the week ahead. Ideas might include dishes to make for upcoming holidays, meals we’re cooking at in our kitchen, and the odd recipe we’re testing that we’d love you to try.

Welcome to the third week in our new series What to Cook this Week, which we’ll post every Monday, with meal ideas from the archives for easy midweek dinners and recipe suggestions that might involve a bit more prep for Friday night, whether you’re staying in or sharing a meal with family or friends.

In What to Cook this Week, we’ll also make suggestions for what to cook for holidays that are coming up and share what we’re making in our kitchen here in Siem Reap. And if you’re up for it, we’d also love to post the occasional dish that we’re developing for our cookbooks and invite you to try them and share feedback. Let us know if that interests.

Before I share suggestions as to what to cook this week, we have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by using our links to book accommodation, rent a car or campervan or motorhome, buy travel insurance, or book a tour on Klook or Get Your Guide. You can also shop our Grantourismo store for gifts for foodies, including fun reusable cloth face masks designed with Terence’s photography. You could also buy us a coffee, although we won’t buy coffee, we’ll put that donation toward cooking ingredients for recipe testing.

Another option is to contribute to our epic Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon or purchase something on Amazon, such as these James Beard award-winning cookbooks, cookbooks by Australian chefs, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, cookbooks for culinary travellers, travel books to inspire wanderlust, gifts for Asian food lovers, picnic lovers and travellers who love photography. Now let’s give you some ideas as to what to cook this week.

What to Cook this Week from Pork and Crab Congee with XO Sauce to Russian Buckwheat Kasha

Pork and Crab Congee with XO Sauce Recipe by Chef Christine Manfield

Tonight we’re making this heavenly pork and crab congee with XO sauce recipe by Australian chef Christine Manfield who shared it with us after we sampled her sublime take on the Chinese rice porridge in Cambodia’s riverside city of Battambang of all places a few years ago. It only took one spoonful of this addictive savoury rice porridge for my eyes to light up and for me to make a note to myself to ask, beg and plead if I had to for the recipe. Fortunately, Christine is very generous. Note that you’ll need to either invest in some XO sauce or make your own. Considered one of the finest out there, Hong Kong’s mildly-spiced Meal of Emperor XO Sauce is available on on Amazon. More affordable, though not as rich in flavour, is Lee Kum Kee’s Hong Kong XO Sauce. You may find these for less in Asian supermarkets in your nearest Chinatown. Uou can also make your own XO sauce. We haven’t attempted to make homemade XO sauce yet here in our Siem Reap kitchen, however, I like the look of my friend Lorraine Elliott AKA Not Quite Nigella’s XO sauce and she has a video on how to make XO sauce from scratch featuring her mother making her own family XO sauce recipe.

Pork and Crab Congee with XO Sauce Recipe by Chef Christine Manfield

Cambodian Num Pang Recipe

I don’t know what it is about Tuesdays, but we’ve got into the habit of having super casual meals on Tuesday nights, so I reckon we’ll make a Cambodian num pang recipe tomorrow night. Cambodia’s num pang is similar to Vietnamese banh mi — a Vietnamese sandwich or technically a baguette packed with pork, pate and salad. This Cambodian num pang recipe is a recipe for a traditional Cambodian sandwich or, more correctly, a demi-baguette, which here in Siem Reap usually comes with pork and/or pâté, carrot and daikon quick pickle, perhaps some salad ingredients, such as crispy slices of cucumber, maybe tomato, fresh herbs such as coriander, and a chilli sauce. We’ve got a handful of num pang recipes on the site. This num pang barang makes use of your turkey leftovers. We’ve got a classic num pang pâté, a num pang with meatballs (link below), and a vegetarian num pang. They’re all good, so take your pick!

Cambodian Num Pang with Meatballs Recipe for the Best Summer Baguette Sandwich

Russian Buckwheat Kasha Recipe

I have to confess that at this time of year, we don’t have much more energy on Wednesdays, and I’m seriously craving comfort food, so I reckon I’m going to make my Russian buckwheat kasha on Wednesday. This comforting Russian buckwheat kasha recipe with caramelised onions, bacon lardons, pan-fried mushrooms, and soft-boiled eggs makes my hearty take on my baboushka’s traditional Russian breakfast. Buckwheat or grechka is the key ingredient of this kasha, a savoury porridge that I serve with a dollop of sour cream and plenty of fragrant dill. Despite the rustic appearance, it is perhaps the least traditional of all my Russian family recipes but it’s one of my favourite buckwheat recipes. Highly recommend serving it with a light Russian garden salad to cleanse the palate.

Comforting Russian Buckwheat Kasha Recipe with Bacon, Caramelised Onions, Mushrooms and Eggs

Authentic Moroccan Chickpea Soup Recipe

On Thursday night, we’re making this authentic Moroccan chickpea soup recipe, one of our favourite chickpea soup recipes. It makes a warming, hearty bowl of soup that’s a meal in itself – particularly when served with some oven-fresh flatbread. We learnt to make this chickpea soup in a Marrakech kitchen over ten years ago and we haven’t tweaked a thing since. It’s that good. Morocco was the first stop on the year-long grand tour of the world that launched Grantourismo in 2010 with our mission to inspire you all to travel more locally, more slowly and more experientially. Note that if you prefer to make this authentic Moroccan chickpea soup recipe with dried chickpeas, rather than canned chickpeas, you need to start the day before and soak the dried chickpeas overnight to soften them. Add half a teaspoon of baking soda to soften them faster.

Authentic Moroccan Chickpea Soup Recipe Straight from a Marrakech Kitchen

Lasagne alla Bolognese Recipe

By Friday night, we’re really going to need some comfort food, so I’ve already asked Terence to make his lasagne alla Bolognese, which is one of the most comforting dishes there is. If you made our ragu alla Bolognese tagliatelle recipe and enjoyed it then you’re going to adore our lasagne alla Bolognese, which is what we normally make the day after. This classic lasagne alla Bolognese recipe from Bologna in the Emilia Romagna region of Northern Italy makes the best lasagne recipe ever. Rich and comforting, this traditional lasagne Bolognese begins with a great Bolognese ragù that’s layered between flat pasta sheets and besciamella, Italy’s béchamel sauce, and Parmigiano Reggiano.

Classic Lasagne alla Bolognese Recipe from Emilia Romagna – Best Lasagne Recipe Ever

Please do let us know in the comments below if you’ve cooked any of our What to Cook this Week recipes, as we’d love to get your feedback on the series and some feedback on how the recipes turned out for you.

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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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