Chicken, Cambodian-Style

Chefs at Home / Nadsa De Monteiro
Chicken, Cambodian-Style
A chef known for blending East and West cooks a light meal for the closing days of summer
By JOYCE GEMPERLEIN
September 1, 2007; Page P5

THE CHEF: Nadsa De Monteiro is executive chef of the Elephant Walk restaurants in Boston, Waltham and Cambridge, Mass. Each of the sites has two kitchens, one preparing authentic Cambodian food and the other French-inspired dishes. Ms. De Monteiro studied with Michelin chef Yves Thuries in Cordes, France, and at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, but she says her most important influence has been her mother, Longteine.


KNOWN FOR: For more than 15 years, Ms. De Monteiro has been preserving her heritage, cuisine and culture through her restaurants and cooking classes. "The Elephant Walk," written by her mother and writer Katherine Neustadt, was one of the first volumes of traditional Cambodian recipes published in the U.S.

THE MEAL: Core ingredients of Khmer and Cambodian cuisine include lime juice, garlic, sugar and fish sauce (a liquid made from salted and fermented fish that's widely available in Asian markets and some supermarkets). Kampot sauce incorporates all these in both chicken dishes.

KITCHEN TIP: Why spritz the rice with cold water in the Bai Mouan recipe? Ms. De Monteiro says this allows the rice grains to absorb more flavor when they are toasted in oil, chopped garlic and pepper or other ingredients.

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Bai Mouan (Classic Cambodian Chicken and Rice)

Yield: 4 servings
Active prep time: 30 minutes (all of the garnish can be done while rice is cooking)
Cooking time: 50 min to 1 hour

1 large whole chicken (about 4 1/2 to 5 pounds), any innards removed, washed
1 large, peeled whole yellow onion
2 cups jasmine rice
11/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Kampot sauce:
Juice and pulp of 21/2 limes
8 garlic cloves, ground to a paste in a mortar and pestle or in a minichopper
3 to 6 green and red bird's eye or serrano or jalapeño chilies to taste, finely chopped
1/2 cup fish sauce
3 tablespoons sugar

The garnish:
1/2 small head bibb lettuce, separated, washed, dried and torn into small pieces
1/2 large English cucumber, thinly sliced on the bias
1 scallion, sliced diagonally into 1/4-inch pieces
Handful of fresh cilantro leaves, washed and dried
1/2 small onion, halved and sliced paper-thin crosswise
2 tablespoons preserved cabbage, called Tianjin (optional)*

• Place the chicken in a large stockpot and cover with cold water by an inch. Add the onion and bring to a boil; reduce heat to maintain a simmer and skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Cover and simmer until chicken is tender but not mushy, about 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove chicken from the broth and store tightly covered until serving time; reserve broth. If desired, strain broth through a fine mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth to remove any additional sediment.

• Put the rice into a strainer or fine mesh sieve and spray cold water over the rice until rice is completely wet. Let the rice drain for a minute or two. In a large pot heat the oil and saute the garlic over medium heat until lightly golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid burning. Add the drained rice and stir to mix well; toast the rice, gently stirring often without breaking the rice grains, until the rice becomes mostly opaque, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; mix well.

• Add 3 1/4 cups of the reserved chicken broth to the toasted rice and stir to mix well. Bring to a boil and immediately lower the heat to a minimum. Cover and let the rice cook undisturbed until broth is completely absorbed and the rice is tender, 20-22 minutes.

• While the rice is cooking, make the kampot sauce. Combine the lime juice, pulp, garlic paste, chilies, fish sauce and sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Cover and store refrigerated.

• Reserve one chicken breast for the tomato salad. Discard the chicken skin and bones and shred the remaining meat into bite-size pieces. Arrange the chicken on a platter with the rice, lettuce, cucumber, scallions and cilantro. Serve this dish accompanied by individual bowls of the kampot sauce and individual bowls of piping hot chicken broth garnished with thinly sliced onion and Tianjin (preserved cabbage), if desired, to be sipped as you eat the bai mouan. Reserve remaining kampot sauce for the tomato salad.


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Nyuom Peng Pah (Tomato Salad With Chicken)

Yield: 4 servings
Active prep time: 10 minutes

1 cooked chicken breast, finely shredded (reserved from Bai Mouan)
1 pound fresh plum tomatoes, very thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves, large leaves torn
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, preferably Thai basil, large leaves torn
1/3 cup Kampot sauce (reserved from Bai Mouan)
Thinly sliced green and red bird's eye, serrano, or jalapeño chilies to taste
1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, coarsely ground

• In a large salad bowl, combine the chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, mint and basil. Add the kampot sauce and chilies to taste. Sprinkle with the peanuts. Toss and serve immediately.


* * *
Cha How Lang Tao Nung B'kong (Stir-Fried Shrimp With Snow Peas)
Yield: 4 servings
Active prep time: 20 minutes

1 pound medium shrimp, shelled with tails remaining, and deveined
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1 pound snow peas, stems and strings removed
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

• Butterfly the shrimp by cutting them down the back lengthwise but not all the way through, so they will flare open when cooked.

• Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet or wok over medium-high heat and saute the garlic until golden, 5 to 10 seconds. Stirring well after each addition, add the shrimp, peas, fish sauce and sugar and cook until the shrimp are cooked through and the snow peas have lost their crunch but aren't yet mushy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the pepper and serve immediately.