Chon samoth char xieng.
(Clam with black bean sauce. )

Succulent cherry stone clam with spicy gingery black bean sauce is very tasty Khmer Krom food that origin from Karmourn Sor, where seafood is abundant. Clam with black bean sauce is one of my father favorite appetizers (mahope sar). When I was little, my father love to made clam with black bean sauce for him and his friends, but he always left a small plate in the kitchen for me to eat with rice. :)
• Ingredients :
  • ½ Cup water
  • 1 Teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1 Tablespoon black bean sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
  • ½ Tablespoon sugar
  • ¼ Teaspoon black pepper
  • 1- 2 Dozen large cherry stone clams, scrubs and rinses shells well
  • 8 Cups water
  • 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 Cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Yellow onion, sliced
  • 1 Pieces fresh ginger (size of a thumb), julienne
  • 2 or 3 hot chili pepper or ½ red bell pepper, sliced thin (option)
• Procedures :
  In a small bowl, mix water with cornstarch, black bean sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and black pepper together, set it a side.
  Cook 8 cups water in a large pot, when water bubbling hot drops clam in to boiling water and cook till shells open. Take clam with open shells from hot water, removed clam meat from it shells and set it a side.
  Pre-heat a skillet or wok.
  When skillet is hot, add oil, saute' garlic, onion, ginger and red pepper. Pour prepared bean sauce over and stirs till sauce thicken.
  Add clam meat, stirs and serve immediately.
  Serve as appetizer or with rice.