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| Khmer Rice Roll at SAN restaurant |
So what is Khmer rice roll? Now
most people out there would ask, ‘isn’t it the same as the Vietnamese roll?’ The answer to that is it’s similar but not the same.
Here’s what Khmer rice roll is in a
nutshell. It’s rice paper (cooked of course because the uncooked one
is dry and hard, and you wouldn’t be able to roll it) wrapped around various
fresh ingredients such as lettuces, cucumber, bean sprouts, vermicelli, Asian
herbs and chicken or prawn, or if you like, both. Basically you put in what ever
takes your fancy. I say the more the merrier. These fresh ingredients could have a party in there
if they want and that’s cool.
Here at San restaurant we put in
fresh green salad (cos it’s damn healthy), julienne cucumber and carrot, bean
sprout, rice vermicelli and either chicken or prawn, depending on which you want. Yes, that’s it. Nothing more and nothing less. Sounds a bit like sushi,
don’t you think? Hmm, may be it’ll be the next sushi.
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| Khmer Rice Roll with SAN sauce |
Now the dipping sauce.
You can eat the rice roll as it is or you can dip it in various sauces such as Thai
sweet chilly sauce, fish and sour sauce, and many other different Asian sauces
out there that are in existence today, or you can make your own and be creative.
Here in our restaurant we use SAN sauce, a Cambodian home made dipping sauce
that we (I mean mum) formulated specifically to accompany the lovely rice roll.
We have many customers raving about it. Secretly I feel my chest puff up with
pride. And sorry we can’t tell you how to make it because it’s top secret. |
| SAN sauce |
To make it more exciting when you
eat this delicate and fresh food, you should add lots of crushed, roasted
peanut and chilly flakes. Yes, lots and lots of chilly flakes. The combination
of fresh vegetables in the roll when dipped into the sauce will explode in your
mouth, giving you that tangy sweetness with heat. But of course if you
don’t like hot food then just go without the chilly flakes, which is still damn
delicious.
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| SAN sauce with chilly flakes |
So if next time you happen to come
into SAN restaurant here at 2 Dowling Street in Dunedin, why not ask for Khmer
rice rolls as your entrée, or even better yet, as a main – that’s if you want
something light and healthy to eat.
Cheer ^_^
