After another friend mentioned how many cooking classes she did during her six months backpacking around Asia – and how very valuable those lessons have become in allowing her to come close to reliving her dining experiences in the continent with, in my opinion, the best cuisine ever in world history, I had the idea in the back of my mind as I made my way through south-east Asia.
Once I tasted Cambodian food I was hooked. Naturally I had eaten my fair share – and others’ fair share – of other cuisines from the region before, but I had never tried Cambodian. After sampling a few dishes I started researching cooking classes, of which there were many in Siem Reap, and settled on the highly-recommended Le Tigre de Papier. Not only was it one of the most highly recommended according to online reviews, it was also the cheapest I found at USD 15 per person.
They offer several classes a day, including a trip to Psa Chas market, where it was advertised we would buy our ingredients. We assembled in the restaurant itself at 5pm and were told to pick the items we wanted to make from the menu offered. I chose Fish Amok without hesitation, as it had quickly become my favourite, along with prawn rice paper rolls.
Our teacher Navin informed us they already had the ingredients but we would nevertheless visit the market for a tour. I had already been by myself but was not displeased to go again – not only do I love any market, no matter what they sell, but this one was interesting and full of food that was satisfying simply to look at.
Navin explained what different vegetables and spices were used for while stall owners patiently waited for us to move out of the way of actual customers, before we made our way to the kitchen. The kitchen was situated on the second story of the building along Pub Street, with big open windows offering a vista across the surrounding rooftops and down onto the pedestrian street below. It was a very pleasant setting, and we each had plenty of space to ourselves plus red aprons and hats (that I think no one actually wore).
Navin was patient as we took turns snapping pictures of each other, then expertly led us through each dish step by step. We were all able to watch what our classmates had to do to prepare their dishes, and her explanations made everything quite easy. My rice paper rolls were far from the perfectly folded items you would enjoy in a restaurant, but they might have been acceptable at some sort of international food day like the ones we used to have in primary school.
The Fish Amok was impossible to make incorrectly with Navin’s guidance, and she helped with the presentation so the end product looked quite perfect – apart from the decorative carrot flowers crafted by my inexpert hands.
It took roughly three hours from the time we met to when our food was ready to eat, and in our little group of five we carried our meals down to the restaurant to eat, with the bonus of leaving the dishes behind.
I must confess I have yet to recreate the dish I so diligently learned to cook, which is largely due to the different spices and vegetables I would need to source – but it was nevertheless a fun way to spend an evening, with a delicious reward at the end.
Courtney Gahan is a serial expat, traveller and freelance writer who has bartered with Moroccan marketeers, seen the sun rise at Angkor Wat and elbowed her way through crowds on NYE in NYC
