The meat and seafood section of the Siem Reap Pasar Chaas was quite interesting, despite our minutes long tour of it. We didn’t realize it at the time, but our guide was a vegetarian, so she was freaking out at taking us through this part of the market! She rushed on ahead and I was left to take photos of things I didn’t necessarily know what they were! Up top, a wonderful photo of what looked like Barramundi or our own apahap, a type of bass that thrives either in brackish or fresh water.
Here, the abundant and meaty fish omnipresent at many meals, sourced from the huge lake nearby.
Freshwater prawns or similar to our own ulang.
I was a bit surprised to see live turtles, on their backs, struggling to turn themselves over. The teen has a pet turtle at home, so seeing these for sale, obviously destined to be cooked, was a bit unusual.
And next to the live turtle, some turtle eggs.
Dried snake in the yellow plastic bag in front, dried freshwater fish in the back.
Dried fish…
…and still more dried fish.
Pork sausages.
And that all important prahok, or mashed, salted and fermented fish paste or sauce, in varying degrees of fermentation. This is the flavoring that underpins a lot of Cambodian dishes and I guess our closest equivalent would be bagoong or guinamos…
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It is so fantastic how picturesque markets are! Everything seems laid out for photos to be taken. Thanks Marketman (and MRS MM) for bringing to us the sights (and the smell – which I can definitely imagine from the pictures) of Siem Reap! It’s like traveling without leaving the comfort of my seat and cup of coffee.
Thank you for the wonderful tour of the fish section…Yup as tna says…we can practically smell the market…hahaha…good morning everyone!!!
I think that fish at the top photo is called a “knife” fish in local pet stores here.
i feel a bit sad for the turtle…
omg! are they eating turtle eggs & turtles too? =(
Lee, you must be a fishkeeper too? I saw that trademark mouth and immediately looked for the spotted tail – apparently, knife-fish are sold as food in Cambodia. Not surprising since Cambodia also sends us a lot of cream dory (Pangasius sutchii) a.k.a. the hammerhead sharks in your local freshwater aquarium!
marketman, I wish you’d sampled the knife-fish, always have wondered if they make for good eating?
thanks MM, i remeber my trip to vietnam…. i bought some sausages from the market.. YUMMY!
Sad to see the sea turtle…worse, the eggs! There are so few of them in the wild. I wish people didn’t eat them. Ditto on shark fins. :-(
Are those really turtle eggs? The ones that I’m aware of are roundish and the size of pingpong balls but softer… Unless they are of different breed :-)
hi t2rad.. am not a fishkeeper but a friend had a pair of knife fish…. I heard about the cream dory/pangasius fish that is farmed in cambodia and vietnam and yeah they are the “sharks” sold in pet stores! Thanks… so the fish we keep are the fish they eat… cool
i wonder… is it not prohibited to sell turtles and turtle eggs for food (even for domestic care)in combodia?
Very nice pix MM!!! Thanks for sharing as always. I wonder how the Knife fish and the dried snake tastes like. I used to have this in my aquarium and paired it with snake head fish, all bought from the pet store.
The turtle above is not a sea turtle. It is the one that the Chinese commonly eat. It is good, soft, chewy and sweet. There is a restaurant in Guadalupe, Cebu that serves turtle soup and it is often sold out.
Turtle eggs are delish! You can practically never overcook them and they remain runny, like softboiled eggs even after a long soak in boiling water. You tear the sac or the shell (coz they’re soft) and suck out the insides. YUM.
When I was a kid there were a lot of turtle eggs sold in Zamboanga, usually sourced from Turtle Island somewhere near Jolo, I think. But when I was in college, I can hardly find any. I think the locals of Turtle Island are noticing the decline in the population of turtles who lay eggs there and are not allowing the eggs to be taken anymore. I wouldn’t eat a turtle egg now, though. It’s just wrong to kill and eat endangered species. But for a while they were pretty good eating.