The Confirel x Penh House Prahok Menu

Penh House, the Phnom Penh hotel where Confirel has hosted chefs and culinary demonstrations before, now serves a full menu built around KIRUM Prahok Powder -- a collaboration between Confirel and Penh House's kitchen that reimagines prahok ktis, Cambodia's traditional fermented fish paste, across twelve dishes.

The menu opens with prahok ktis itself, served with a choice of beef, chicken, fish or pork alongside prahok fried rice or steamed jasmine rice, and travels from there into unexpected pairings: a prahok omelet, a prahok ktis sandwich, a prahok ktis beef spaghetti that recasts a Bolognese sauce with prahok ktis, and a prahok ktis special pizza layered with beef, pork or seafood. A grilled ribeye steak comes with three sauces -- one Kampot pepper, one Prahok Powder, one blending the two.

"Prahok Ktis is a culinary preparation typical of traditional Khmer gastronomy, full of exotic aromas and rich, complex flavours," reads the menu itself. Fermented fish paste is blended with coconut milk and palm sugar, flavoured with lemongrass, turmeric, kaffir lime, garlic and red pepper -- "a harmonious marriage of salty, spicy and subtly sweet."

By turning that traditional preparation into KIRUM Prahok Powder, Confirel has carried prahok ktis beyond the Cambodian table -- as a garnish for spaghetti, sandwiches and hamburgers, a cocktail sauce for aperitif canapes, or Cambodian-style with rice and crunchy vegetables.