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Group Writing: How to Prepare Kampot Noodles
Did you know that noodles originated in Cambodia? Well, according to the Khmer legend of Dhmen Jay, noodles were introduced to China around the start of the Common Era. If you’ve read my previous post on noodles, you’d know that num banh chok is a fermented rice noodles. Making num banh chok is very laborious, as you can probably tell from that post.
I’m not certain of the age and provenance of num banh chok, but my aunt’s third-grade teacher’s family claimed to have been making Khmer noodles for more than a thousand years. And there are many villages all over Cambodia that have claimed the same. There are a few areas in Kampong Thom and Kratié provinces that have been making num banh chok for more than two millennia.
Noodles originated in Cambodia, or so says the legend of Dhmen Jay, a young man who lived at the start of the Common Era in Nokor Phnom (the first unified Khmer kingdom). Dhmen Jay was born to a couple of no particular power or wealth. As a young boy, he was tricked by a millionaire neighbor and promised to get even. Shortly after, Dhmen Jay easily outsmarted the millionaire, who then proceeded to hoist him on the king. Soon, he was tricking and ridiculing bureaucrats left and right, winning contests of wit and outsmarted the entire court. He even mocked and outsmarted a bunch of wily Chinese emissaries sent by the Chinese emperor.