The cuisine of Cambodia or Cambodian Food is the most famous part of the country, but it is not all that it’s famous for. This exquisite kingdom is so magical all the visitors that visit here feel like they’ve been spell cast!
The ancient and modern world here mix and match so well together it creates an authentic experience. This country is bordered by Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Indochina Peninsula. Â Also known for its rich and chic lifestyle, life here is full of fun and entertainment!
As soon as you enter this country, you’ll be greeted with the lush flora and fauna, culture, and of course, thick forests surrounded by valleys. Cambodia is your match made in heaven if you’re a foodie and looking for a fancy vacation that can satisfy food desires. People worldwide visit this place mostly because of its food diversity and tasteful and healthy Cambodian cuisine!
Phnom Penh is the richest and biggest city in this country. This city offers not only historical but also cultural tourist sites. It has stay places of all price ranges from simple, cheap guesthouses to big 5 star hotels. This city is also very famous for its nightlife and night food.
Siem Reap is one of the epicenters of Cambodian cuisine. The variety of Cambodian food items available here is just beautifully unbelievable! Since it’s also famous for its nightlife, people are found doing fun activities on the road like biking or simply just walking with some edible item like coffee in their hand. Find out more on this here.
Best Time to Visit
The best time to fancy Cambodia is between November and April, when it’s a little rainy. Throughout this time, you’ll get to witness a clear blue sky, and it would be so satisfactory for you. You can visit here outside of this time period too. It will be the most beautiful in the monsoon season since the countryside would be full of lush and green flora and fauna and the rivers and all the water bodies would be full.
Coming to the end of the summer, you can also fancy one of Cambodia’s most famous spots: Tonle Sap, the largest lake consisting of freshwater in the south-east side of Asia, and it’s also home to a lot of ancient villages.
About Cambodian Food
The best part about Cambodian cuisine is its variation of herbs, spices, and condiments. People mistake Cambodian food for Thai a lot, but the major difference is that Cambodian cuisine is mild and fill with pickled and tangy flavors, whereas Thai cuisine is spicy.
Cambodian cuisine should be the key to your experience if you do decide to visit Cambodia. It is literally a feast for your taste buds. Going through the streets of Phnom Penh, you see the diversity of Cambodian food, its complex flavor, and the influence caused by French Architecture.
The Khmer diet globally is renowned worldwide; it mainly consists of rice and freshwater fish as their staple food items. The Cambodian food items revolve around seafood, and that’s due to the 2 important freshwater sources are Tonle Sap and the Mekong River.
Cambodian food’s typical meal usually consists of a fish item, salad, vegetables, soup, and rice. Even the dessert in Cambodian food has rice as the key ingredient and fruits to enhance natural flavors.
1. Nom Banh Chok
Popularly described as ‘ Khmer Noodles ‘ in layman’s terms is a Cambodian food item usually served for breakfast, but people often consume it as a quick snack. It is made up of fermented rice noodles as a key ingredient made in wooden mills or stone.
It is sizzled with flavourful fish gravy and fresh vegetables, including water lily, cucumber, and banana flowers. Alongside the banana blossom, a dash of different variations of fresh herbs can be added too.
Many new variations are available in this Cambodian food item. It is basically eaten in sunny weather, and folks may even say the idea of nice noodles was taken from Cambodians by Chinese.
2. Bai Sach Chrouk
It’s one of the most popular Cambodian food eaten at breakfast, made up of pork and rice. It’s next to impossible not to hear about it in the best Cambodian food items. It’s so famously eaten there among tourists and residents that it gets stock out after a certain time in the morning itself.
It’s comprised of marinated and then further grilled pork and thinly sliced. The marination consists of garlic, soy sauce, coconut milk, and the Kampot pepper gives the meat a lip-smacking flavor that’s irresistible. It also helps with caramelization.
3. Kuy Teav
Like the usual Cambodian food items in the breakfast category, this one’s made up of rice and noodles. It’s a tasty famous local item made up of beef, herbs, and broth filled with noodles alongside rice.
Bean sprouts and the nicely boiled noodle soup sitting at the base with the crispy layers of garlic pieces. Tender lime and herbs are the main ingredients that provide the aroma and the flavor enhancement to this Cambodian cuisine dish.
4. Kdam Chaa
Kep, the seaside town of Cambodia, has the specialty of fried crab. This Cambodian food item is prepared with a spice that’s grown locally called ‘Kampot pepper.’ This delicacy beautifully enhances the taste of white rice with its spicy pepper flavor.
5. Samlor Korkor
Though Amok is sometimes fondly called the country’s national dish, Samlor Korkor holds a special place in tourists’ hearts. It’s a very ancient dish that people have eaten for centuries and is now available in almost every Cambodian restaurant and the local households there.
This versatile, healthy soup consists of more than a dozen of fresh vegetables. Any meat can go with this soup, but the best ones are catfish and pork belly due to how their taste compliments one another.
6. Kroeung
This flavourful Cambodian paste is made with kaffir lime leaves, cardamom, garlic, lemongrass, and all the aromatic spices and condiments there are out there. This term ‘ Kroeung’ generically means a wide spectrum of flavor-packed Cambodian paste used in an endless number of tasty Cambodian food items.
This dish has 2 main types: the color categorizes the identical individual one, and another one like if it’s green, it’s due to lemongrass, or red made up of red chillis.
7. Lok Lak
It’s a basic Cambodian cuisine item made up of stir-fried beef or shrimp or the common meat, chicken. Although beef is the preferable option, people also enjoy chicken in it. A layer of lettuce is garnished with tomatoes, onions, and other juicy vegetables, with the main item is stir-fried beef with juices.
It is commonly eaten by putting the lettuce leaves on top and bottom as a wrap. It is often served with rice, allegedly brought to Cambodia from Vietnam by French people.
8. Fried spiders
Though people usually don’t like eating spiders, it is a typically Cambodian food item in Skuon caused by spider infestation. Since the folks there used to starved due to the infestation, they started cooking spiders and consumed them, and now it’s a famous historical Cambodian food item. No wonder how Skuon is also fondly called Spiderville.
It tastes like chicken as described by the tourists, so if you’re worried it will taste horrible, don’t worry. It tastes like normal meat.
The fried spiders, usually Tarantulas, are deep-fried and served by garnishing them with flavourful herbs. If there’s no rice or noodles alongside it, is it even a Cambodian dish? Exactly.
9. Bok I’hong
This Cambodian food item literally means papaya. It is a salad made up of green papaya throughout Southeast Asia. Unlike the Thailand version, this food item consists of thinly sliced papaya and other fruits and ingredients. Some may even use the shredded papaya and wouldn’t include fruits.
Sometimes it even consists of Cambodian fish paste. It can also have salted crabs or grilled fish and of course with the side of rice and maybe some chicken too. The main key ingredient in this green papaya salad is the white fish sauce instead of the fermented fish paste used in the older times by the local folks.
10. Mung Bean Pudding
Though Cambodian cuisine is full of meat, rice, and noodles, there are some great desserts. Usually, Cambodian desserts are made up of palm sugar, coconut milk, cream, and condensed milk. It can also be served with fruits since Cambodian cuisine is not only tasty but healthy too.
It is famously available at street stalls, and the traditionally made version of it helps cool down your body temperature. Thus, it’s widely consumed in the summer season.
This Cambodian food item is commonly served with an enormous amount of coconut sauce. This sweet and thick mouth-watering dessert is mostly made a day over to be chilled overnight and served cold.
