September: Num Ansom from Cambodia

This article partly inspired by  as monthly topic of September 2020 and partly inspired by Pjum Ben festival in Cambodia which occurs between September and October every year to end the Buddhist Lent. 

Coincidently, what I am going to write about is very similar to Japan's well-known Sushi in term of appearance but it has a different taste and serve for different purpose. This is a cake (Num), can be eaten as main dish and also served as dessert. It is going to be another complicated and exciting process to make it!

What is Num Ansom?

• នំ (Num) - means cake in general.
• នំអន្សម (Num Ansom) - refers to cake that use sticky rice and wrapped in banana leaves. In short, we call it Ansom (pronoun as On - So:m)
• Num Ansom can come in various forms such as Num Ansom Chrouk [ នំអន្សមជ្រូក - pork wrapped in sticky rice and banana leave], Num Ansom Chek [នំអន្សមចេក - banana wrapped in sticky rice and banana leave]
• By local people, calling just Num Ansom means Num Ansom Chrouk. This is what I am going to introduce to you all and talk about now!

What are Num Ansom Chrouk for?

Num Ansom Chrouk is well known by locals as the very important cakes in the culture and tradition. I don't argue where it is originated but Cambodians have been cooking this for a long time, and almost everyone knows how to do it, just a bit of impatience since the cake takes very long time and procedure to cook! Wrapping them securely is another issue. My mom does it very well and my elder brother knows how to tight the knot very well but I don't know any of those, except helping mom in preparing of ingredients. 

Three main celebrations that locals would cook this cake and widely used include:

1. Wedding ceremony (check this out in my previous article about it)
2. Khmer New Year celebration (April) and
3. Pjum Ben festival (September/October)
4. Other celebrations.

However, you might see them at the markets almost everyday and you can try them. One can cost from 1$-10$ depends on size and type of Ansom.

• In the wedding, this is the main cake, used to offer to the bride's parents with other 36 types of fruits. Some document suggested that in Jayavaraman VII reign, Cambodia followed Hinduism so many items and tools related to the religion and Num Ansom is one of them. The cake represents Shiva's linga (meaning energy and strength and Num Kom (another cake used in the wedding ceremony pairs with Num Ansom) represents his wife's.
• Khmer New Year and Pjum Ben festival celebration, almost all families would spend time for a day to cook this cake for eating in the family and offer to the monks at temples. Those who do not cook, would buy from the market.
• Other celebrations - people would cook this as well but not very common.

How to prepare to cook Ansom Chrouk?

• It is quite a long process and complicated as well.
• Elder people know how and do it well, youngers have no much patience so don't really love doing it.
• It needs many hours to prepare and another 5-6hours for the Num to be cooked.

Ingredients of Ansom Chrouk: for about 50 packets (size of cake: 5 cm x 16 cm with the weight of 1.2kg each cake) 

From outside to the core:

A. Banana Leaves: big leaves and a lot of them! Banana stem is stretched and cut for the string to wrap the cake. Some use plastic, not recommended!

B. Sticky rice: marinade with salt, sugar before cook

• 5 kilos of sticky rice (soak in water for 06-08hours before use)
• Pure rice is needed.
• 5 cups of fresh coconut milk (put or not put, depend on people - my mom doesn't use it)

C. Mung bean: boil and cook well before use - put a bit of salt into it while boiling

• 3 kilos of mung beans (come in a package, already peel or non peel) 
• soak in water for 06-08hours before clean and cook
• Some people and areas of Cambodia do not cook mung beans before wrapping in the cake - end up cake easily spoiled or not very tasty.
• Spring onion (cut small pieces)

D. Pork: marinade with salt, pepper, garlic, sugar and cook a bit before use

• Kompot pepper: 0.3kg
• Salt: 1 spoon full 
• Garlic bulbs: 2
• Pork belly (sach chrouk bey choan - 3 layers of pork flesh)

Steps in preparing actual cake, read some more here and here for photography series

Before wrap, well prepared!

1. Banana leaves: cut from the tree and dry in the sun for 10-15mns then clean with wet towel (not water). Cut or make them circle as you like or just leave as they are. Keep them aside.
2. Sticky rice: wash white sticky rice two times and soak it for 6-8hours, after 8hours, drain the mung bean and sticky rice and keep them aside. Boil the coconut milk until creamy (20 minutes), add the salt and sugar. Add the drained sticky rice to the coconut milk and stir - then keep aside again!
3. Mung bean: Wash the mung bean two times and soak it for 6-8 hours, then boil it with salt, sugar and spring onion. Make them taste right already!
4. Pork: separate the pork from the skin (flesh +fat together), cut in thin slices ( app.10cm long). Peal the garlic and crush it in a mortar with the salt and pepper ( Kampot pepper). Marinate the pork in the garlic mixture (dried marinade). Then cook them together a bit.
5. Mix cooked marinade pork and boiled mung bean together and keep in a bowl. 

Wrapping time

Wrapping is important as it has to secure the cake and keep them for a long time. Cooking for such a long time, it really needs firm and strong wrapping skills!

According to one blogger, he wrote a very detailed instructions as below which I really admire him and I have no such language terms to use very well to fit in the context:

1. Lay 3 banana leaves on a table with the ribs and the long side parallel to you. The underside of the leaves should face up. The first two leaves should flush each other then place the third fold in the middle. The reason is to make the center stronger to hold the rice while the edges will be thinner so easier to wrap.
2. On the middle sheet, put a laddle (about 2.5 tbs) of rice and spread into an oblong shape. The length should be about 15 cm.
3. Add a thin layer of mung bean (2 tbs) on top of the rice
4. Put a slice of pork belly in the middle of the rice/mung bean patty
5. Fold horizontally over the edges of both leaves to cover the rice and stuffing.
6. Continue folding until you have tightly wrapped the rice and stuffing.
7. Pat lightly to flatten out so that it will be easier to tie the strings.
8. Fold the flaps down twice and tie the cake in the middle with a string using the scraps from the banana leaves
9. Carefully tilt one end of the cake so the rice doesn’t come out, hold it vertically
10. Look in the hole and push the rice so it is even
11. Fold the edge by pushing the sides of the leaves inwards creating a 90-degree angle flaps, then tuss the folded edge with a strip of banana leaf Do the same for the other side.
12. String the cake in using different knotting techniques. There are several ways of stringing the cake:
13. Some area wrap the cake in a circular manner. However, Khmer Krom [South of Vietnam today] way which use a cross-tie parcel knot. This method is faster and hold the cake tighter (efficient to avoid the cake to unfold) but is less aesthetic.

Cooking: time and heating is very important!

1. Put all the cakes in a big pan (vertical or horizontal) 
2. At the bottom of the pan, place in brace bamboo stalks so that the cakes do not lay at the bottom of the pan (avoiding them to be burnt), and that the boiling water flows easily.
3. Cover with water (commonly cold water but new cooks suggested hot water) and cover all with banana leaves
4. Close the pot and cook for at least 4-6hrs at medium heat. People should standby the fire and regularly check on water, the heat and the cake. After 4 hours, they can take one cake to check and taste whether they are well cooked because many people who are inexperienced in cooking Ansom - make the sticky rice raw and would spoil all the cake.
5. Once cooked, take them out from the pan, keep on the bamboo for cooling down! Some would hang on the wall and that can be kept for 2-3days. Some people would put them in the fridge and some would fry them and eat in the new form.

Yummy 

Eating the cakes:

1. Remove the strings by uniting them or cutting them (In rural Cambodia, we don’t cut these as the strings can then be re-used)
2. Unwrap the banana leaves and cut the cakes with a string (dental floss is fine). Use the knife if needed!
3. Savor the cakes as they are or pan-fry some slices.
4. The pan-fried cakes can be eaten with soy sauce (Chinese influence) or with fish sauce (fish sauce, sugar, crushed garlic, lemon and chilies) wrapped with a lettuce.

Green Ansom: specially made by Khmer Krom [South Vietnam nowadays] by using Katuk leaves to add color and put salt egg in them. One is 1.2kg and cost 7.5$/cake. Google map to the market for this here

  

Keeping the cake for long term:

• Some would hang on the wall and that can be kept for 2-3days.
• Some people would put them in the fridge and,
• Some would cut them in slides and fry them and eat in the new form.
• Some would just grill them and eat 

How to keep for long time?

What a long process! But it is worth it to taste the final products!