Classmates made fun of him for the lunches his family sent him to school with. “My grandmother once packed me some kroeung-and-fish-sauce wings on rice,” he says, and when it was heated up, “my ...

We found someone preparing a version very much like my mother’s splendid cooked prahok: mixed with kroeung spice paste, minced pork, and young tamarind leaves, all wrapped in a banana leaf and ...

When paired with thinly sliced pork belly, egglant, coconut milk and a lemongrass paste known as kroeung, this is a curry to remember. Serve with cabbage, cucumber and snake beans for dipping.

“My grandmother once packed me some kroeung-and-fish-sauce wings on rice,” he says, and when it was heated up, “my teacher was holding her nose while my classmates were pointing and laughing.