… and these Thy gifts …

For 4-6 servings

1 pound eggplants
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 pound ground pork
1 pound shrimp, shelled, deveined and minced
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 green onions, sliced thin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prick eggplants all over with a fork and place on a baking sheet in one layer. Bake 30 minutes or until cooked through. Remove skins and discard. Mash pulp in a bowl and set aside.

Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute until just beginning to turn color, about 15 seconds. Add ground pork and shrimp, breaking up any clumps; stir-fry for 5 minutes. Add the fish sauce, sugar and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for 3 minutes more, then add the mashed eggplant and continue stir-frying until eggplant is evenly distributed, about 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in green onions.
Serve hot over rice.

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GRILLED CORN (Poat Dot)

For 6 ears of grilled or steamed corn:

In a saucepan, mix together 2 tablespoons oil, 3 tablespoons minced green onions, a tablespoon each of water, sugar and fish sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook over high heat until scallion starts to wilt. Brush or spoon sauce over hot corn and serve.

This is a simple dish, but truly delicious. In Cambodia this is sold by street vendors. A nice dairy-free alternative. You may use steamed corn, but I think the strong flavors of the sauce is better put to use as a counterpoint to the somewhat smoky sweetness of grilled corn. (I grilled mine indoors as the weather wasn’t cooperating today.) Putting fish sauce on corn may sound a bit unusual, but the combination works well. My family was pleased, and I bet yours will be too!

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Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup thin coconut milk
1 cup reserved lychee syrup from a can of lychees
4 egg yolks
1/2-3/4 cup sugar or to taste
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped lychee (about 12 pieces)

Procedure:

Combine cream, coconut milk, reserved syrup, egg yolks and sugar in a 1 1/2 - 2-quart saucepan. Cook gently over low-medium heat, stirring, until thickened and mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon. Stir in vanilla extract and remove from heat. Strain mixture into a metal bowl and chill, covered, for at least 4 hours or overnight. To freeze, follow ice cream machine’s manufacturer directions, adding chopped lychee when ice cream is almost frozen. Transfer to a container and freeze until serving time. [Alternatively, freeze ice cream in a bowl with a tight-fitting lid and stir well every hour until frozen. This will result in an ice cream that has somewhat of an irregular texture, but delicious nonetheless.]

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