Cambodian national cuisine is not as popular as neighboring Vietnamese and Thai, but no less exotic and tasty. At the same time, food prices in Cambodia are lower than in neighboring countries, as there are fewer tourists here.
Check out this post about 21 popular dishes in Cambodia’s cuisine. Choose some of the best options you’d like to try and create your own list of must-try Cambodian local food.
Book a local Cambodian cooking class here .
1. Amok fish
Amok fish is a hallmark of Cambodian cuisine, in most restaurants it is served with creamy curry. Amok is a freshwater fish. The fillet is cut into small cubes and stewed in coconut milk, fish sauce and sugar, then seasoned with a chicken egg. Kroeung is also added there – a paste from turmeric, kaffir lime, lemongrass, shallots and hot spices.
Traditionally, amok is steamed and served in a banana leaf, which is used instead of a plate.
2. Kuy Teav
One of the most popular national dishes of Cambodia. It is customary to start a Cambodian breakfast with kuy teav, and you can find it in any tent with street food. Kuy teav is made from pork or beef bones with the addition of rice vermicelli.
The broth is seasoned with shallots and garlic, then topped with bean sprouts and aromatic herbs. Meatballs made from meat or fish are added as the main ingredient. The soup is served with hot chili pepper paste, sliced lime and hoisin sauce.
3. Chicken and banana flower salad
Enjoy this light refreshing salad, that not only will give you a feeling of fullness, but also get rid of thirst in the intense heat. The recipe for a Cambodian dish is simple: chicken fillet pieces are fried and laid out on a plate with a banana flower, fried onions and lemongrass.
Top the dish with freshly ground chili and chopped garlic. It’s all dressed up with freshly squeezed lime juice.
4. Beef Lok Lak
This dish consists of fried pieces of beef tenderloin seasoned with a mixture of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. Fried eggs are sometimes placed on top of the dish.
In addition to lok lak, a dipping sauce made from lime juice and kampot pepper is served. Be sure to season your beef slices with it for a truly unique taste.
5. Pepper crab
This dish is prepared not only in the coastal town of Kep. However, this is where it will be prepared from the freshest ingredients.
Crabs are caught daily in Cambodia, you can buy them at any fish markets. On the menu of every restaurant you will find at least one dish with crab. If you want to enjoy the pure taste of seafood, then we advise you to order just such an option – crab cooked with Kampot pepper.
6. Khmer curry
The dish is much softer and less spicy than the Thai or Indian version. The Khmer curry recipe uses more herbs and spices than hot spices, so it is sweeter.
Curry recipes vary, but often they include chicken, coconut milk, fish broth, herbs, sweet potatoes, shallots, turmeric, ginger, and other ingredients. Khmer curry is served with fresh bread or boiled rice.
7. Nom banhchok
Nom banhchok is one of the affordable street food found all over Cambodia. Nom banhchok is made with thin rice noodles, chopped banana leaves, legumes, fresh vegetables, mint, and other herbs. Served with green fish curry.
The presentation of the food itself is also very interesting. It is usually brought by women holding a long stick on their shoulders, on both sides of which buckets of ingredients are put on.
8. Rice with pork
The second name of the dish is bai sach chrouk. If you see several people next to the tent with Cambodian cuisine, then be sure that half of them eat pork with rice. This national dish of Cambodia is usually cooked in the morning.
The dish, which can only be bought in restaurants and stalls until 10 a.m., consists of thin strips of pork marinated in garlic sauce and then grilled. Pork and rice are served with fresh and pickled vegetables.
9. Prahok
Foreign tourists have the most difficult relationship with this dish. Some consider its taste to be the main discovery from a visit to the country, while others are sure that they will never want to try prahok a second time.
Prahok is often served as an addition to the main course, but you can also find its independent version – with rice cooked without spices, or another lean side dish. It is a very fine fish paste that has a salty and pungent taste. Because of the strong smell, tourists called Prahok “Cheese from Cambodia”.
10. Vegetable salad with mango and chili
Salads in Cambodia are famous for their fresh taste. This salad is great as an addition to fish and meat dishes.
It is prepared with fresh chili peppers, fish sauce, finely chopped mango, tomatoes, shallots, pickled cucumber, onion, kampot pepper and basil or mint.
11. Lort Cha
These are pin noodles fried with beef, broccoli, bean sprouts, herbs and fish pieces. During cooking, soy sauce is added to the ingredients. Fried eggs are placed on top, and the whole dish is seasoned with sweet chili.
If you want to eat something to stay full for half of the day, then this meal is definitely for you – the dish is very satisfying.
12. Pies with green onions
Known as Nom Ka Chai in Cambodia, this street food is fried in skillets until golden brown. Small cakes are made from crumbled rice and served with a spicy fish sauce. The dish is sweet and unusual in taste.
You can buy such pies in tents with street food or in small cafes.
13. Barbecue
In the evenings, the air in the cities of Cambodia is filled with the aroma of meat cooked on grills, which literally stand at every residential building here. Sach Ko Chomkak is grilled beef or pork on a skewer. Shish kebabs are usually eaten with pickled papaya salad. You can also find an option when the meat is placed inside a toasted fresh baguette.
The dish differs from our shish kebab by its spicy sweetish taste.
14. Balut
Cambodian cuisine is ready to surprise you with extraordinary dishes. If you want something unusual, then you should definitely try balut.
It is a fertilized duck embryo and is eaten whole, usually from the shell. In fact, this is not a formed duckling developing inside an egg. A popular snack is considered very healthy.
15. Fried frogs
French cuisine has had a great influence on Khmer recipes. But not in the case of fried frogs. Cambodian cuisine was known for eating frogs long before colonial times.
Frogs are strung on skewers and fried whole, previously marinated in a chili and garlic sauce to give the meat a piquant spicy taste.
16. Steamed pork bun
And again, a recipe that can be tried on the street is a fresh pork bun. A piece of dough is boiled in a water bath, and then stuffed with pork and a chicken egg. Due to steam cooking, the dish is low-calorie and healthy.
This dish needs to be eaten hot. If the bun lies down, the dough will become sticky and lose its taste.
17. Num Chet Chien
And these sweet snacks can be found on the street, especially in the afternoon. To make num chet chien, bananas are mashed, mixed with dough and black sesame, and then deep-fried.
Despite the sweetness, the dish is not considered a dessert, as it is very satisfying.
18. Tarantula
Indigenous Cambodians are very fond of eating this spider. Deep fried with chili peppers, the spider is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside thanks to the gastric juices of the tarantula.
The city of Skuon, located between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, is a place where tarantulas are caught. From there, they are transported throughout Cambodia and sold in food markets.
19. Pickled fruit
The unusual combination of fruit and sauce is what makes this dish so popular. It is loved by locals and tourists alike, and the markets are filled with bags of pickled fruit.
Inside the bags you can see everything from papaya and mango to cucumber and guava. In addition to the appetizer, a sauce made from chili, fish broth and spices is served.
20. Pumpkin Custard
This dish for the sweet tooth is pumpkin custard or sankhya lapov. Before steaming the pumpkin, it is stuffed with sweet cream. Sankhya lapov is served after lunch or dinner.
A dessert treat is also prepared by most families for special occasions: for the New Year, a wedding or other holidays.
21. Scorpion on a stick
Did you find Cambodian cuisine not exotic enough? Try scorpions on a stick! Scorpions are sold in street stalls on the waterfront in Phnom Penh and on the bar street in Siem Reap. Scorpions are strung on a skewer and then fried in oil.
