I’m revisiting an old dish I made awhile back this time sharing you my step-by-step recipe on how to make this classic delicious Cambodian comfort food called Chicken and Lime Soup (Sngor Jruk Sach Mon) ស្ងោរជ្រក់សាច់ម៉ាន់. This is probably similar to the Thai version of Tom Yum Soup with a clear broth.

This year I feel fortunate because one of my favorite herbs “Basil” is growing nicely in my garden. I used to plant basil before but there were more flowers than there are leaves, even though I pick the flowers early as soon as it comes up. I don’t know what went wrong that year. This year I planted two varieties, the Thai basil (purple stem) and the sweet basil known in Italian cooking. With just a few ingredients I have left I went ahead and made some Chicken and Lime Soup.

I remember this used to be my oldest brother favorite soup because it’s the only thing he knows how to make as it requires very little ingredients. When my Mother first visited Cambodia back around 1995 my Dad was left to take care of us and he too made this soup for us almost every single day, again maybe it’s because that’s the only thing he knows LOL   Alternatively, you can kick it up a notch by adding other vegetables like banana blossom, oyster mushrooms, lotus roots and many more.

Chicken and Lime Soup
(Sngor Jruk Sach Mon) ស្ងោរជ្រក់សាច់ម៉ាន់

Ingredients
1 small Cornish chicken, cut into quarters
4 cups of water
2 lemongrass stalk, ends trimmed and pound
5-6 kaffir leaves
3-4 garlic, smashed
2 chicken bouillon cube
1-2 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 cup basil leaves
2-3 chillies (optional)

Method:
Bring water, lemongrass stalks and kaffir leaves to a boil. Add chicken bouillon cube. Stir to dissolve.

Add chicken pieces making sure they submerge in the stock. Cook until chicken is done. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of your chicken pieces. Once the chicken is cooked remove and continue to simmer the stock. Allow the chicken to cool. Then separate the meat and discard the bones. Shred the meat into pieces with your fingers.

Return the shredded chicken back into the stock followed by sugar and fish sauce. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust to your preference. Turn the heat off and add in the lime juice.

When serving, ladle to a bowl and add chopped basil leaves. Garnish with some chili peppers. This soup can be enjoy alone or as part of a meal with steamed rice.

Spicy Beef Basil Sandwhich

It’s the weekend and I was out an about in San Francisco playing tourist and hitting Twin Peaks which is a must-stop on every tourist’s list of places to go when visiting San Francisco, CA. Why there? Twin Peaks offer a magnificent view of San Francisco. It is situated almost at the geographical center of the city.

My friends and I used to refer to Twin Peaks in Cambodian as “Phnom Ow-Tronorb” which literally translate to “Bra Mountain” because of the identical hump. LOL Okay, minds out of the gutter. Anyways, I left home with short sleeves and the AC in the car blast on med-high. It was pretty toasty. However as soon as we got to the top of the summit it was like we were in North Pole. Luckily we have extra jackets in the car. It was very very cold, windy and foggy up there. A bit hard to get the city view due to the fog that was coming in from the Pacific Ocean. Nevertheless, we managed to take a couple of pictures and headed back down where we took our jackets off and turned the AC back on again.

When I got back home it was close to dinner time. Didn’t want to get all elaborate on my dishes I decided to whip up something quick. Checked the fridge and saw some beef and immediately thought about combining it with the fresh jalapeños and basil in the garden. Looked to one side and saw some left over French Baguette. Perfect! I put it all together and came up with this extra Spicy Beef Basil Sandwich នុំបុ័ងសាច់គោជីក្រហម. Maybe the new Cambodian Sandwich shop that opened up in New York (Num Pang Sandwich Shop) would consider adding this to their menu? LOL I must be dreaming in broad daylight. The stir-fry is great with steam rice too but I wanted to use the bread before it gets all hard and crusty on me.

Beef Basil Sandwich Ingredients

Ingredients
½ lb beef, thinly sliced
5  jalapeños, thinly sliced
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1/4 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
a handful of basil leaves
1 foot long french baguette

Marinade
½ tablespoon sugar
½ tablespoon oyster sauce
½ tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil

Method:
First marinade beef and set aside. In the meantime prepare all the other ingredients.

Heat up a  non-stick pan and throw in the slice shallots and onions. Turn the heat down to medium and saute them until soft and caramalized. Remove and set aside.

Turn the heat back up and return the pan add garlic and cook until brown then toss in the beef. Cook for 2-3 minutes and add slice jalapeños. Once the jalapeños softens add basil and turn off the heat. Mix in the basil until it starts to wilt.

Cut bread lengthwise and remove (hollow-out) some of the bread. This will make room for the stuffing.  You can also toast the bread briefly for that extra warm crunch. Add stir-fry beef basil and some caramelized shallots and onion. Then top it off with the other half of the bread. The sandwich is now ready. To serve you can either cut it in half or quarter them.

បាយឆារសាច់ក្រកនឹងេជីក្រហម (Bai Cha Sach Krok & Chee Krohorm) The warm weather is keeping me up late at night and up early in the morning.  Maybe it’s a sign for me to start eating what many consider the most important meal of the day, breakfast. I thought I would be able to skip lunch and just go directly to dinner since I already ate my Banana Nut Muffin and Coffee.  However by afternoon my tummy was growling. So with the left over rice and sausage from yesterday dinner, i fixed myself some sausage basil fried rice. Basil is my most favorite herb. I mentioned in my Chicken Lime Soup that this year I planted two varieties, and here they are. Both were used again in my Sausage Basil Fried Rice.

Sausage and Basil Fried Rice (makes 2 servings)
(Bai Cha Sach Krok Nung Chee Krohorm) បាយឆារសាច់ក្រកនិងជីក្រហម

Ingredients
2 tablespoons oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green onion (both the green and white part), cut into 1/2 in
3 cups cooked white rice
2 eggs
1 cup sausage, dice (you can also use any other meat or seafood)
2 jalapenos, slice (optional)
½ onion, cut into bite size (optional)
1 cup fresh basil leaves,  (Thai or Italian or both)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce

Method:
In a pan, heat the oil in medium heat. When the oil is hot add garlic and green onion. Stir until the garlic is brown then add jalapeno slices and onion. Cook for several minute or until onion is a bit tender. Add the sausage.

Note: If using un-cook meat add it before  the vegetables as it takes longer to cook than vegetables.

Once the meat is is cooked, add in the rice and stir fry for about 3 minutes. Make sure to break up any clumps of rice and that the rice is well coated in oil.  Add the seasoning (sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce) and  continue to stir. Work quickly, if the rice starts to stick to the pan you can add a splash of stock or water.

Push the rice to one side of the pan. Crack 2 eggs into the empty side of the pan. As the eggs cook, use your spatula to break them up into small pieces.

Mix the eggs with the rice. Add in the basil and continue to stir-fry until the basil is wilted. Turn off the heat and serve hot.

Note: If basil leaves are big, you can easily tear it into pieces or roughly chop it.