(Many of the fairs, festivals, and other wonderful food events that usually fill my calendar each spring have been postponed or cancelled. This post is based on celebrations in previous years.)
The Cambodian celebration of the New Year coincides with the Thai festival called Songkran. Wat Buddha Thai Thavorn Vanaram, in Elmhurst, Queens, is one local site of those observances, which are supported by many of the city's Thai restaurants. New York's Khmer community is comparatively small, and this event at Wat Jotanaram — formerly a two-family house in the Bronx neighborhood of Bedford Park — was a more modest affair.
Those circumstances still allowed ample opportunity for home cooking, however. Perhaps my favorite dish was a fish soup (above) with vermicelli and vegetables. Though the mung bean topping had been inflected by hot pepper and fermented shrimp paste, it had an overall sweetness that balanced the sourness of the soup. According to the lady who served me, this dish is specific to her home province of Battambang.
Also shown: assorted rice dishes at the buffet; a pair of sampler plates, including ground fermented fish at the top of the first and fried taro athwart the second; pickled vegetables, alone and with a skewer of grilled beef; shrimp, pork, sprouts, herbs, and rice vermicelli about to be wrapped in a lettuce leaf (many in the congregation simply used a fork, and made less of a mess than I did); two desserts, pumpkin in coconut milk and a quintet of palm-sugar based cakes; and the Cambodian, Buddhist, and U.S. flags flying at the former private residence that now is home to the wat.
Khmer New Year celebration at Wat Jotanaram
2738 Marion Ave. (East 196th-East 197th Sts.), Bedford Park, Bronx
www.Facebook.com/Jotanaram
(The 2020 celebration has been cancelled)
