Khmer Traditional Food
1. Samlor korkor
2. Amok
3. Lok lak
4. Somlor proher
5. Nom banh chok
6. Kuy teav
7. Num ansom.
8. Nom Krolan
1. Samlor korkor
While amok is sometimes called the country's national dish, and might be the one most familiar to tourists, samlor korkor has a better claim to being the true national dish of Cambodia. It has been eaten for hundreds of years and today can be found in restaurants, roadside stands and family homes alike.
The ingredients list for this nourishing soup is versatile and easily adapted to whatever is seasonal and abundant; it often includes more than a dozen vegetables. It can be made with almost any type of meat, but most commonly it's a hearty soup made from catfish and pork belly. The soup always includes two quintessential Cambodian ingredients -- prahok, a type of fermented fish, and kroeung, a fragrant curry paste -- and is then thickened with toasted ground rice.
2. Amok
Amok is one of the best-known Cambodian dishes, but you'll find similar meals in neighboring countries. The addition of slok ngor, a local herb that imparts a subtly bitter flavor, separates the Cambodian version from the rest of the pack.
The curry is made with fresh coconut milk and kroeung. Traditionally the dish was made with either fish or snails, but now you can find chicken and even vegetarian versions. At upscale restaurants amok is steamed with egg in a banana leaf for a mousse-like texture, while more homestyle places serve a boiled version that is more like a soupy fish curry.
3. Lok lak
Lok lak is a Cambodian stir-fry utilizing 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. The dish is typically consumed by pulling lettuce leaves from the bottom and adding other ingredients into it, so it is consumed similar to a wrap. Lok lak is often paired with rice on the side,
4. Somlorr proher
Somlorr proher: Fragrant vegetable soup This aromatic vegetable soup is a Cambodian village staple and one of the country's most popular. The soup's base is a lemongrass paste made with fingerroot ginger, and it can be made with any number of vegetables, usually home grown or foraged. ... Pumpkin, taro, and luffa gourd are common ingredients, and lemon basil is such an important part of the dish, that in Cambodia its name translates as "the herb for somlor proher." The soup usually contains fish, fermented, dried, and fresh, but it can also easily be made "mhob bouh," "as the monks eat" -- an expression meaning vegetarian, even though Cambodian monks don't necessarily avoid meat.
5. Nom banh chok
Nom banh chok is a beloved Cambodian dish, so much so that in English it's sometimes called simply "Khmer noodles." It's a typical breakfast food, and every morning you'll find it being sold by women carrying baskets of fresh rice noodles hanging from a pole balanced on their shoulders.
The dish consists of fresh noodles laboriously pounded out of rice, topped with a fish-based green curry gravy made from lemongrass, fingerroot ginger, turmeric, and garlic. Fresh cucumbers, banana flower, long beans, edible flowers, and wild leaves are heaped on top. In Siem Reap, it is served with a sweet sauce called tuk paem made from palm sugar and peanuts.
6. Kuy teav
Every country in Southeast Asia has its own version of noodle soup, and kuy teav is Cambodia's, a flavorful pork-bone-and-squid broth most often served with pork or beef, fish balls and fried garlic. The name derives from the Hoikken Chinese word for a type of rice noodle, and theories about the origins of kuy teav include the possibility that it was invented by Chinese traders in Cambodia or originated in Kampuchea Krom, an area in southern Vietnam that was once part of the Khmer Empire. Whatever its roots, kuy teav is is one of the country's most popular breakfasts and afternoon snacks.
7. Num ansom
These sticky rice cakes wrapped in banana leaves are so emblematic of Cambodia that in 2015 the government made a giant num ansom weighing 8,900 pounds and displayed it in front of Angkor Wat to earn a place in the Guinness Book of World Records
The cakes can be sweet or savory, filled with bananas and coconut or pork and mung beans. For major celebrations, such as Pchum Ben (Ancestor's Day), women spend days making hundreds of num ansom to share with family and friends and give to monks at the pagoda.
8. Nom Krolan
Bamboo sticky rice in Cambodia.
A Cambodian street food consisting of sticky rice, black beans, coconut, jackfruit that's steamed inside bamboo on a charcoal fire. The stick is bought whole, and then peeled open to eat. The dish is a popular street food in Cambodia. The best Krolan is in Kratie province of Cambodia.
Go to the top.