Connecting with My Roots: Cambodian Recipe Post

 Written by: Selena Oum, SLU dietetic intern

Throughout my life I had never fully embraced my culture, especially the food. During the end of my undergraduate, I noticed that there was not much cultural diversity within the dietetics field. Moving to Saint Louis University to start my internship, was the first time that I have moved out of my parent’s house. After living on my own and away from my own cultural roots, I realized how much I missed some comfort from home. Therefore, I started to learn how to cook Cambodian food. 

Growing up as a Cambodian-American, one of my favorite Cambodian dish is Salaw machu, also called Sour Soup. Salaw Machu is a popular soup base dish in Cambodia, located in Southeast Asia, that can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. My family typically makes this dish during family gatherings. For me, it’s associated with a memory of getting to laugh with my cousins and playing games with them all night. A popular ingredient that Is used for Salaw Machu and in almost every Cambodian dish is Koreung. This gives the soup its sour umami flavor.

Koreung can be used in other soups, marinated with meats, or stir fried with other ingredients. Koreung a mixture of lemongrass, ginger, turmeric, and kaffir lime leaves that is pounded into a paste using a clay or wood mortar and pestle, which can be seen being used in other cultures such as Hispanic cultures. Each ingredient brings in many different health benefits.

Typically, salaw machu is made with beef and water spinach, but these ingredients can be swapped out for healthier options such as fish or chicken instead of beef and adding in more vegetables such as carrots, green beans, and Chinese eggplant. The dish is versatile, and I have had them in many different varieties.

I hope that future dietetic interns/students won’t be afraid to embraces their own culture and not to be afraid to eat what you grew up eating just because it doesn’t fit into the typical diet normality.  Your culture is what brings the uniqueness to the dietetics field.

My greatest takeaway from this program is that there is always so much to learn about other people’s culture and the foods that are connected to it. Always be open minded to listening to what other people’s favorite meals or recipes are that their parents or grandparents passed on down to them.