I didn’t even have to squeeze anything out of a sock this time!

A lot of the time, my days in Cambodia feel very far away. Going through my old notebooks is like walking into a weird time portal, full of interviews with people I don’t remember (“Question: how long does it take you to paint a single tuk-tuk?”), odd to-do lists (“Find copy of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves for Savuth”) and discarded lyrics for a comedic folk song entitled “All My Linga Wants Is Your Yoni” (funnier than it sounds, I swear).

But with the publication of this cool anthology, which includes some of my Cambodian musings, I was looking for a way to pay homage to and feel reconnected with the Kingdom of Wonder. That’s when I went hunting through my notes for the recipe for Tofu with Tamarind, Chili and Basil. I scored it while writing a weekly column for The Phnom Penh Post called The Learning Curve in which I would try to learn traditional Khmer pursuits and then make fun of myself while I bumbled my way through them. Looking back, I see that I must have irritated a lot of busy people while researching this column, but they tended to be unfailingly good-natured about it, and Oeurm Pav at Arun Restaurant was no exception.

But would I be able to remember enough about interviewing her to recreate my favorite Khmer dish? It was a long time ago, my notes were sketchy, and even in optimal conditions, I’m lazy about measurements. However, I was able to purchase tamarind paste in an Indian grocery store in Queens, whereas in Cambodia, I had to boil the tamarind and squeeze it through one of Jason’s socks for lack of a cheesecloth. Perhaps giving undue weight to this head start, I decided that I could just intuit my way through the rest of it.

The results were imperfect: it was a little too spicy (or maybe I’m just not used to eating chili peppers in every meal any more) and the sauce was thicker than I remembered. And yet, the flavors took me right back to the breezy courtyard of Arun faster than you could say “Proustian madeleine.” Oh Cambodge, you are still only a bite away.

Tofu with Tamarind, Chili and Basil

• 1 package of firm tofu
• Generous amounts of olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 5 chili peppers (or as many as you can handle)
• ¼ cup tamarind paste
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• A pinch of sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 3 big handfuls of basil leaves, torn into bite-sized pieces

Squeeze as much water as you can out of the tofu and cut it into triangles. Pan fry it, using ample olive oil to prevent sticking, until golden brown. Remove tofu to a bowl to cool, but leave remaining oil in the pan.

Chop the garlic and chilis finely and sauté them in the oil.

To the bowl of tofu, add the tamarind paste, the oyster sauce, the soy sauce, sugar and salt and stir together. When the garlic is cooked, turn up the heat on the pan and dump everything in the bowl into the pan at once, stir-frying quickly. Add the basil at the last possible moment and remove it from the heat while it is still bright green.

Serve over white rice.