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Cambodia
The kingdom of wonder
My top 17 Cambodian Foods
Cambodian Food - 17 Sensational Traditional Dishes
1 Nom Banh Chok
Num banh chok is known for its fresh flavours, fragrant herbs, and its delightful combination of textures. Num banh chok is made from rice noodles and a sauce combining lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, galangal, turmeric and mudfish. Which has been simmering for hours in coconut milk. It is then topped with raw vegetables and fresh herbs such as mint and basil. This is typically served for breakfast or consumed as an afternoon or early evening snack.
2 Lort Cha (cha means stir-fry in Khmer)
Lort Cha is a mixture of short rice noodles, oyster sauce, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, garlic, a little sugar, chives, green onion and bean sprouts. This amazing combination is stir-fried together often on the back of a converted tuk-tuk. To top off this amazing delicacy a slightly runny fried egg is placed on top. This combination of seasonings adds an amazing savoury, sweet, and umami flavour to the dish.
3 Plea sach ko (Beef ceviche)
Plea sach ko is a sweet and tangy beef salad made with thinly sliced lime-marinated or prahok-cured beef. Which is either quickly seared or “cooked” ceviche-style. Dressed with lemongrass, shallots, garlic, fish sauce, basil, white radish, mint, green beans and green pepper. This sweet and salty dish packs a punch in the Spicy department as it is loaded with copious amounts of fresh red chillies.
4 Kampot Pepper Crab
Cambodia’s Kampot province is famous for its Kampot pepper, a spice renowned for its exceptional quality and unique characteristics. Chefs around the world know its exceptional quality and unique characteristics. Thus it is a perfect compliment to the amazing Kep crab. The sweet fresh crab mixed with the distinct and aromatic Kampot pepper will have your senses going overdrive.
5 Yaohon Hot Pot
Yaohon is a popular communal dining experience that is enjoyed by many. It involves cooking various ingredients in a simmering broth at the centre of the dining table. Cambodia’s hot pot contains a variety of vegetables, meatballs, fish tofu, dumplings and seafood balls. Adding a savoury, spicy, creamy, and slightly sweet note. The broth is based on a mixture of coconut milk or cream, and chicken broth. It is typically flavoured with barbecue sauce, fish sauce, soybean curd sauce, lime leaves, lemongrass, and palm sugar.
6 Amok (Coconut fish curry)
Fish amok (or amok trey in Khmer) is often considered the national dish of Cambodia. A fragrant and spicy coconut fish curry with red snapper or tilapia tenderly steamed in a banana leaf cup. Which gives it a mousse-like texture thus making it melt in your mouth. The blended spice paste, called kroeung, is a citrusy and earthy blend of lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, turmeric, and noni leaves. This entire process typically takes about 45 minutes to an hour.
Cambodian Food - 17 Sensational Traditional Dishes
7 Kuy Teav (Noodle soup)
Kuy Teav noodle soup is a popular breakfast dish. Kuy Teav is known for its flavourful pork broth base, which is prepared from bones and meats usually cooked slowly overnight. The bones are one of the most important parts of a meat broth. As they give body to the soup during the long cooking process. The gelatin falls loose from the bones and thickens the broth. Besides the pork broth, the fermented ingredients are key parts of this soup. The fish sauce, the soy sauce and the rice wine give the final taste to the dish.
It is usually made from rice vermicelli and beef or pork bones. The broth is flavoured with fried shallots, green onion, garlic and bean sprouts. Pork or beef balls are then added just before serving.
8 Red tree ants with beef and spicy basil
Yes, you read that correctly. Upon the first bite, you will discover ants of all sizes stir-fried among heaps of fresh herbs and thinly sliced beef. The insects add a tangy, sour pop to the savoury, fragrant medley of chilli, basil, ginger, lemongrass, garlic, and shallots. Essentially, it is a large stir fry made using beef, basil, garlic, shallots, ginger, lemongrass, and lots of ants.
9 Bai Sach Chrouk
Bai Sach Chrouk — which means rice and pork in Khmer — is one of the most popular breakfast items in Cambodian food, along with noodle soups. This is a popular breakfast dish consisting of marinated pork served over rice, accompanied by pickled vegetables and a fried egg or sliced scrambled egg on the top. The pork is usually grilled or roasted with garlic and soy sauce.
10 Green Papaya Salad
The papaya salad from Cambodia is slightly different from that from Thailand or Laos and has its own, beautiful, fresh flavour. This popular dish is enjoyed for its vibrant flavours, crunchy texture, and the perfect balance of sweet, sour, and spicy elements. Containing lime juice, fish sauce, sugar or palm sugar, and frequently including dried shrimp, and garlic this Cambodian salad is less spicy, than its surrounding countries. frequently includes dried shrimp and/or fish, and uses less garlic
11 Sour Beef Soup (Samlor) with Morning Glory
This Cambodian sour beef soup with Morning Glory is a wonderful green vegetable-driven broth. Slowly cooked with morning glory, yellow kroeung, fish sauce, prahok (fermented fish paste), salt, palm sugar, and tamarind juice. Sometimes the seeds of a wood apple are added. This remarkable sweet yet sour dish leaves your mouth full of blissful delight.
12 Samlar Korko (Sour soup)
Samlor Korko, also known as “samlor kako,” “somlaw koko,” or Cambodian “Stirring-Pot” soup, is a hearty mix of seasonal vegetables, unripe fruit, and the meat of your choice. Which gives a distinct citrusy lemongrass flavour
The seasonal local vegetables and herbs might include water spinach, shallots, scallions, tomatoes, kaffir lime leaves, hot basil, coriander, galangal, and lemongrass. There’s also a version that has pineapples. Other key ingredients in this dish are the fermented fish paste, prahok, and the spice paste, kroeung. While the typical souring agents include Krasaing fruit seeds, tamarind, or kaffir lime juice.
13 Lok lak (Stir fry)
Lok lak is a Cambodian stir-fry utilising beef, chicken, or shrimp as the key ingredients, although beef is typically the most popular option. For the beef version, a bed of lettuce leaves is traditionally topped with cucumbers, tomatoes, raw onions, and stir-fried beef along with its juices.
14 Num Ansom Chek (Rolled Banana Rice Cake)
Ansom Chek is a traditional Cambodian sticky rice cake combined with slices of banana. But sometimes, jackfruit is also added. The dessert is made with a mixture of sticky rice, coconut milk, and coconut shavings then topped with a slice of salted, ripe baby banana which is covered with more rice, and then the whole thing is carefully enclosed within banana leaves and then steamed.
There are many more delicious sweets, which are readily available on street corners or in food carts. Puddings and sweet soups made with tapioca, coconut milk, beans, corn and fruit are popular and an inexpensive snack.
15 Prahok Ktis
It is a popular dip or condiment made from prahok, a fermented fish paste, combined with other ingredients to create a savoury and pungent flavour profile. Khmer loves dipping different vegetables into this thick paste or adding it to a variety of dishes.
16 Fried Insects
In Cambodia, fried insects are often found in street markets or as snacks at local food stalls. The most commonly consumed insects include crickets, grasshoppers, silkworm pupae, and various species of beetles. These insects are typically cleaned, seasoned, and deep-fried until they become crispy and crunchy. Mealworms are one of my favourites.
17 Fresh exotic fruits
Mangosteen, lychee, papaya, mango, jackfruit, dragon fruit, The fruit in Cambodia is sweet, and succulent and tastes like there’s a burst of sunshine in every bite. Durian fruit is one of the most famous in Cambodia but it can smell bad but usually tastes amazing.
Cambodian Food - 17 Sensational Traditional Dishes
Takeaway
Cambodian food offers diverse flavours and combines the culinary traditions of many different ethnic groups within Cambodia. Over centuries, Cambodian cuisine has incorporated elements of Indian, Chinese (in particular Teochew), Portuguese and French cuisine, and due to some of these shared influences and mutual interaction, it has many similarities with the cuisines of Thailand and Vietnam.
Khmers love to snack and a mid-afternoon bag of unripe fruit dipped in chilli, salt and sugar is a perfect pick-me-up. Along with an iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Sadly many are starting to love fast food too. We have now a couple of fast-food chains that have arrived in the Kingdom of Wonder. Let’s hope I can teach some of them you are what you eat.
I hope I have helped you to explore the vibrant flavours of Khmer cuisine and that you have a memorable experience when travelling to Cambodia and the beautiful city of Kampot.
Here are some great books to read
About Cambodia
If you would like to know more about Cambodia and its history, please read these books.
The first book is by a Cambodian author. Chenda Keo. He discovered that human trafficking was a serious social problem that needed to be urgently and effectively addressed. He began his work by interviewing 17 trafficked children. Surprisingly he found that none of these children considered themselves trafficking victims.
The second book was written by my lovely friend Kate. Who sadly recently passed, due to an illness.
- A book about human trafficking: Human Trafficking in Cambodia by Chenda Keo
- A book about Cambodia: Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
- A book about the history of Cambodia: A History of Cambodia by David Chandler
- A book from a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist: Cambodia’s Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land by Joel Brinkley
- A book about a younger trained as a soldier for the Khmer Rouge: First They Killed My Father
- A book about being in S-21, the prison during the Khmer Rouge: A Cambodian Prison Portrait by Vann Nath
- A book about the leader of the Khmer Rouge: Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare by Philip Short
- A book about a survivor of the Cambodian holocaust: Survival in the Killing Fields Haing Ngor
- A book about two sisters reuniting after the Khmer Rouge: Lucky Child by Loung Ung
- A book about surviving under the Khmer Rouge: When Broken Glass Floats by Chanrithy Him
