Creator
Ratana Kim
Author and self-publisher of a Khmer cooking picture book for children.
Ratana Kim is the author and publisher of the Cambodian American children's books Cooking with Yey: Salaw Machu Kroeung (2022) and Our Donut Shop (2023).[1][2] The Cambodian American Literary Arts Association includes Cooking with Yey on its children's book list for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.[3]
Books
In Cooking with Yey, a little boy helps his Yey, Khmer for grandmother, make one of his favorite Cambodian soups, salaw machu kroeung, with traditional ingredients. Cooking together brings them close, and the soup takes her back to her hometown in Cambodia, where the recipe comes from.[1][4] Khanh Vy Tran illustrated the book.[4] Kim published it herself in June 2022 as a 30-page English paperback, and a hardcover edition followed on October 9, 2022.[1][4]
Our Donut Shop, released on September 16, 2023, follows a Cambodian-American family through a morning at their donut shop, as customers wait for orders in pink boxes. It looks into small family-run businesses and the Cambodian American families behind them. The 34-page hardcover is written for children aged four to eight.[2][5] Both books appear on the Cambodian American Experiences reading list of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.[6]
Recipe
Kim's website publishes her recipe for salaw machu kroeung, a main course that serves four to six. It pairs a kroeung paste of lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, shallot, turmeric and garlic with beef, water spinach, tamarind soup mix and prahok, or fish sauce in its place.[7] The notes explain that prahok is a salted, fermented mudfish paste used in many traditional Cambodian dishes, that machu is a fruit used in Khmer cooking for its sour taste, with tamarind as a substitute, and that kaffir lime leaf, also called makrut lime leaf, adds tartness.[7] The website states that its affiliate earnings go toward making more books.[8]
Works
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 ThriftBooks, Cooking with Yey: Salaw Machu Kroeung
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Target, Our Donut Shop, large print, by Ratana Kim
- ↑ Cambodian American Literary Arts Association, AANHPI Heritage Month children's book list
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Goodreads, Cooking with Yey: Salaw Machu Kroeung by Ratana Kim
- ↑ Target, Ratana Kim
- ↑ Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Cambodian American Experiences (2026)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ratana Kim, Salaw Machu Kroeung recipe
- ↑ Ratana Kim, official site