Cambodia is a country well known for its beautiful natural landscapes and the incredible historical and cultural archeological traces from the past.
Not everyone knows Cambodian cuisine, a cuisine rich of flavors, spices and special ingredients.
The Cambodian cuisine reflects two important influences, the Thai one and the Vietnamese one. This cuisine was also partly influenced by China and France (which occupied the territory in the past).
Generally speaking, there’s a wide use of jasmine rice, a fragrant kind of long rice, fish, meat and vegetables.
Let’s find out all the main dishes of the Cambodian cuisine!
Amok
Amok is considered the national dish of Cambodia, and you can easily find it everywhere in the country.
Amok is made of a fish filet (usually catfish, but you can also find different kinds of fish), covered by kroeung (a traditional spice mix) cooked in coconut milk. The fish is often covered by a banana leaf. It’s one of the least spicy dishes of Cambodia, so it’s liked by a lot of people.
Some alternatives of Amok can have pork, beef or chicken.
Lok Lak
Another traditional dish from Cambodia is made of beef cut into bite sized pieces, fried in a pan.
It’s served on tomatoes and onions, sometimes with pickles as well, and a pinch of fresh coriander.
The “American” version also adds French fries and a fried egg.
Kaw
This dish is cooked with either chicken or pork meat, accompanied with an egg. The meat is paired with a thick sauce with caramelized palm sugar, pepper and fish sauce. This dish isn’t spicy either, unlike many other Cambodian dishes.
Bread
It can be unusual to think that bread could be so much popular in an Asian country, but Cambodia defies this stereotype.
This country produces a lot of bread, particularly baguettes, inherited during the French colonization period. It’s really easy to buy a fresh baguette: you can find a lot of local shops at every corner, offering fresh bread and bread with stuffing, too.
Num Banh Chok
This delicious soup is usually eaten during breakfast. It’s usually made of a fish soup, with green curry, lemongrass, turmeric, and kaffir lime. You’ll find rice noodles inside. It’s a very popular dish, and it’s easy to find at street food stalls.
Saich Moan Char Trop
This delicious fried chicken dish is accompanied by braised eggplant, and it’s the ideal dish for those who have a hard time tasting foreign dishes.
Kuy Teav
This Cambodian soup is another very popular dish. It’s a pork based soup with rice noodles, paired with lettuce, soy, shallot and coriander, and was influenced by Chinese cuisine traditions.
Sankya Lapov
Cambodia has several tasty desserts, too! This dessert is based on pumpkin and coconut cream, sweet and delicious.
