This is an Cambodian recipe also known as tamarind sauce. My mum taught me this delicious dish and I grew up with it so I decided to share it with y'all! The sweet, sour savory, and spicy combination of the sauce goes so well along with the fried tilapia, pork belly and vegetables especially the bitter herb that's called sdao in Khmer or also neem.
Now this ain't no beginner dish if y'all wanna start exploring Cambodian food, but at least y'all should be open about it and try it out. So now without further ado! Let's get started!
Side Note: I don't measure, it's up to y'all how y'all like it, but remember you want this sauce to be sweet, a bit more sour and spicy, I like hella spicy so I go all out with the Thai chili's. Also every household cook their food differently.
INGREDIANTS
- Pork Belly
- Fresh Tilapia
- Cucumbers
- Mints Leaves
- Neem ( Sdao or Bitter Leaves)
- Thai Chili
- Seedless Tamarind
- Green Onion's
- Fish Sauce
- Sugar
- Salt
- Garlic
- Garlic Powder
- Water
- Ginger
- Japanese Sake or alternative White Wine
- Lemon
- Vegetable Oil
- MSG ( if y'all ain't got MSG, y'all ain't got no spice in your life, just saying)
- Bouillon specifically Vien Gia Vi SUP CHAY ( Blue Package)
Preparing The Tilapia
1. Clean the Tilapia thoroughly with cold water, and start scraping the scales out after that cut the middle of the fish, if the fish happen to have eggs you should save it, those are so damn good with the sauce as well.
2. Cut a Lemon, for us we don't like the fish odor smell, so squeeze it on the fish and eggs if the tilapia had any into a pan, once you kinda smother it all over the fish let it soak a bit, finally rinse it again with cold water, I myself do this step twice. It might cook the fish but hell y'all gonna fry em anyway.
3. Dry the fish same goes for eggs a bit and rub garlic powder on it, good amount of salt a reminder; y'all got the sauce so don't go all out.
4. Heat up oil, let it sit for a bit we want that oil hot, don't be afraid of the oil flying your way, if you hungry fight for it, I'm just saying.
5. Now put in the tilapia and eggs (if existed), cover the frying pan, but make sure to open it a little so that steam can ease out. Fry each side in medium heat for about 6 to 10 minutes. Note: I usually wait until I don’t hear any sound. This means that the liquid is gone and the fish is crisp.
Preparing The Pork Belly
1. Scrap the top of the pork belly, look for hair pluck em out, clean it with water
2. Get a boiling pan, put in water let the water boil, once it's boiling add in cut up ginger and Japanese sake, MSG and salt. Again we don't like the stench smell of the pork that's why ginger and sake is a must.
3. Put the pork belly in and let it cook.
3 Remove the scum first and after that drain the water.
4. Slice em up!
Preparing the Sdao/ Neem ( Bitter Leaves)
1. Rinse the leaves, clean it thoroughly, careful those little bulbs can make a mess.
2. Boil water and just drop it in. 5 - 10 minutes should be good.
I think y'all know how to handle the other vegetables but, don't forget to thoroughly clean the vegetables, we don't want dirt in your food. So now finally for the sauce!
Preparing The Tuk Ompul ( Tamirind Sauce )
1. Water and tamarind in a sauce pan, stir and cook till it bubbles
2. Add in sugar, fish sauce, chopped up garlic, MSG, half of bouillon cube
3. Taste the sauce to your liking, finally add up chopped green onions and Thai chili's any amount y'all want.
Hope y'all enjoy the recipe!
Wow this looks amazing! Would love to try cooking it one day!