Richly Spiced Cambodian Chicken Curry

Cambodian cuisine is less known than that of its neighbours, Thailand and Vietnam. It is a colourful cuisine whose style and ingredients reveal strong influences from its neighbouring countries. Influences can also be seen from the period of French occupation (though less spicy in general), China (including the use of caramel in certain dishes and eating curries with toasted baguette) and India (many Cambodian curries contain Indian curry powder and black pepper as opposed to chilli, which is served separately).

There are many curries and stir-fries in Cambodian cuisine, and most dishes are served with rice (hundreds of varieties are grown there). This delicious Cambodian curry contains a number of spices and herbs, including Indian curry powder, as well as nuoc mam (or Thai fish sauce) and coconut milk. Lemongrass, lots of fresh basil and coriander, fresh galangal (or ginger if you can't find galangal), and the addition of dark caramel (which you can see in the top-right portion of the image below) impart a special warmth to the fragrant sauce.

The recipe also calls for sweet potatoes, so all that’s needed to accompany this dish is some Thai fragrant rice and a green vegetable. In the image below, I chose to serve it with lightly stir-fried bok choy, which I first cut in half and then served sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.

This is another shot of the same dish, which I had prepared with new potatoes and parsnips this time (replacing the sweet potatoes). When preparing a recipe like this, don’t be afraid to substitute certain ingredients depending on what you have on hand. As long as you preserve the “essence of the recipe”, the dish will be slightly different, but equally delicious!

The recipe for this delicious curry is now published on my gourmet webzine ::
Richly Spiced Cambodian Chicken Curry