Top:Work in progress: The fish needs to be cleaned, gutted and crushed underfoot before it is salted and left to ferment.
Middle: Take your pick: People selecting fish to be made into prahok.
Bottom: Sun-drie d: Fish are laid out to dry.
Middle: Take your pick: People selecting fish to be made into prahok.
Bottom: Sun-drie d: Fish are laid out to dry.
Monday January 9, 2012
The Malaysian Star
By Jane F. Ragavan
The smell of the Cambodian fermented fish paste called prahok may have you reeling, but it is the soul of Khmer cooking.
IT’S prahok season in Cambodia – you can smell it.
On the banks of the Tonle Sap River, hundreds of families lug baskets of finger-sized silvery fish from boats, gut and slice off their heads and then crush them underfoot before the pulp is dried, salted and left to ferment in bags or jars for weeks or even months.
Its pungent smell hangs heavily in the air, but it is no bother to Cambodians because prahok is the soul of Khmer cuisine. Often called Cambodian or fish cheese in English, prahok is equal in value to rice. In fact, farmers will travel from outlying provinces to trade rice for the protein-rich fish paste, a much needed supplement in the countryside where simple meals of prahok and rice are common.belacan and cincalok in our own cuisine would not disagree.
The smell of the Cambodian fermented fish paste called prahok may have you reeling, but it is the soul of Khmer cooking.
IT’S prahok season in Cambodia – you can smell it.
On the banks of the Tonle Sap River, hundreds of families lug baskets of finger-sized silvery fish from boats, gut and slice off their heads and then crush them underfoot before the pulp is dried, salted and left to ferment in bags or jars for weeks or even months.
Its pungent smell hangs heavily in the air, but it is no bother to Cambodians because prahok is the soul of Khmer cuisine. Often called Cambodian or fish cheese in English, prahok is equal in value to rice. In fact, farmers will travel from outlying provinces to trade rice for the protein-rich fish paste, a much needed supplement in the countryside where simple meals of prahok and rice are common.belacan and cincalok in our own cuisine would not disagree.
2 comments:
Cambodian should have a factory or a clean place to make Prahok! I've seen the place very dirty and fishes are laying on the stinky dirt...worker step on the fishes, smoking while they working..??
Khmen is dirty...
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