Satrey Khmer Online

Slek Bas -  Vine-vegetable or Ivy gourd is scattered wildly in Cambodia, especially in the mountain area. Slek Bas is also grown at home crawling on the ground or climbing along the fence sometimes along the poles. It has an ivy shape and grown like morning glory with curly string at the tip.The taste is somewhat like watercress and spinach but more mineral bite. Another similar name is “Derm Kabas”  which sounds almost the same but it’s a cotton plant. Do not get mixed up. Cambodian immigrants brought their native flavor to many parts of the world. In US, Slek Bas is widely grown in hot places like Long Beach, CA, Florida, Arizona where Cambodian is highly populated. Recently there is an increasing number of Slek Bas available selling at Asian market.

Slek Bas is very important vegetable for Cambodian and it is used in varieties of authentic soup:
-somlor prohaer – mixed vegetable soup with fermented fish and lemongrass base.
-somlor somlouk – mixed vegetable soup with fermented fish base
-sgnou lek bas with pork rib/chicken in clear broth
-char lek bas trolob klanh – saute slek bas with oil, salt and pepper