10 Popular Foods to Try in Cambodia

#1. Fish Amok(Amok Trey)

Regarded as the national dish of Cambodia, fish amok is a type of curried fish that is tenderly steamed in banana leaves, although chicken, tofu, and snails can also be used as a substitute for the main protein. Amok refers to the steaming process used to make the dish. This is what gives Khmer amok its famous mousse-like texture. This cooking method also helps to really impart the flavors into the dish. The fish used in this dish is usually river fish; it is lightly fried before being placed in the banana leaf bowl, drowned in the curry paste and steamed. Fish paste, or prahok, is another staple to the diet and can be seen drying in bamboo baskets on the sides of roads. It is also added to the mix, along with coconut milk, sugar and salt. The result is a thick, orange curry, topped with kaffir lime leaf ribbons and red bell pepper. In standard style, Jasmine rice makes a great accompaniment to this fragrant and savory dish.

Fish Amok is the main dish eaten at Cambodia’s Water Festival which celebrates the flow of Tonle Sap Lake, Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake. This is the local way of honoring the mighty Mekong River for blessing the people of Cambodia with fertile land and rich fish stocks.

#2. Beef 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, the dish consists of beef sautéed with cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, pepper, and soy sauce.

Normally, this dish is served on a bed of lettuce, tomatoes and onions with a beautiful dipping sauce of lime juice, salt and black Kampot pepper. Lok lak is often paired with rice on the side, and it was supposedly brought to the country by the French people from Vietnam.

In the old days as the meat was scarce in Cambodia, it was reserved for special events but nowadays is popular with the masses.

#3. Khmer Red Curry

Red Curry dishes are popular in Southeastern Asia. Khmer red curry is not as spicy as Thai curry. It also uses coconut milk as the base without adding too much chili. The menu includes beef, chicken or fish, eggplant, green beans, and fresh coconut milk, lemongrass and kroeung sauce (spice paste). Khmer curry is often served with bread, a remnant of French culinary influence in Cambodia.

This delicious dish is often served in Cambodia on special occasions such as weddings, family reunions and religious holidays such as Pchum Ben or Ancestral Day when Cambodians prepare the dish to share with the monks.

#4. Cambodian Grilled Chicken (Mann Oeng K'tem Sor, Marech)

When you come to Cambodia, you should eat chicken! The Cambodian black chicken are free-range in the tropical grass, not feed chickens, so the taste and meat quality are much more natural and delicious. The perfect grilled chicken dish is soft, juicy and fatty. The fragrance and taste of this grilled chicken will linger in your nostrils and on your palate for a long time.

This grilled chicken is a traditional dish of the Cambodians. It’s simple looks belie a complicated cooking process. To get it right, the chicken must be homegrown and fed. And it needs to be cooked when the meat is fresh. The chicken is marinated with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, garlic sugar and salt.

#5. Roast Pork Rice(Bai Sach Chrouk)

Roast pork rice is a local breakfast, and roadside breakfast stalls can be found everywhere. If you want to really get to know the local flavor, it is a good choice to step out of the hotel and have breakfast with the locals. Some roast pork rice is to cut pork into thin slices, marinate and grill it directly on a charcoal fire. Some are grilled whole pork chops and served with lettuce. The taste is sweet, and it will be a little greasy to eat all of them, but this is the breakfast no.1 that the locals love to have.

Grilled pork, pickled vegetables, eggs, and onion oil are the must-have ingredients inside a portion of Bai Sach Chrouk. Although they seem simple, they work well with each other and create a pleasant feeling for the whole treat.

#6. Cambodian Rice Noodles(Nom Banh Chok)

Cambodian rice noodles are also mostly eaten for breakfast. Cambodian rice noodles are similar in texture to Vietnamese rice noodles, but they are richer in ingredients. Made with lemongrass, turmeric root, and green curry, it's often topped with mint leaves, bean sprouts, banana blossoms, cucumbers, and other vegetables. It is one of the ten most delicious Khmer dishes selected by CNN!

#7. Cambodia Style Baguette Sandwich

Go for a walk around the markets early in the morning and you’ll catch the familiar whiff of fresh bread lingering in the air among the spices and car fumes. Rolls and rolls of baguettes stacked to the brim are a reminder that the French really was here, except the locals have added their own flavors to it.

The baguette sandwich is a common snack on the streets of Cambodia, a local snack left over from the French colonial period.

Spread the meat sauce and butter in the middle of the baguette, then stuff it with bacon, pickled cucumber, pickled papaya, shredded radish, etc., and finally pour a layer of tomato sauce. It is crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. It's delicious and not expensive!

#8. Cambodian Jelly Dessert (Cha Houy Teuk)

Cha Houy Teuk is a sweet jelly dessert made from agar – a gelatine derived from seaweed. Served in a range of almost-fluorescent colours – pinks, greens, blues – the jelly is often flavored with sago, mung beans and coconut cream and served with a scoop of refreshing shaved ice.

#9. Fried Bugs

The eating of insects is not uncommon in the world. In Indonesia, they make a snack out of curried dragonflies called sky prawns. In Thailand, they make rot duan, a dish of deep-fried bamboo worms. In Mexico, modern restaurants are renovating an ancient tradition by adding ants, grasshoppers, and worms to their iconic dishes. But worms and insects have been cancelled, by biblical decree, from the diets of most Caucasians.

Cambodia has many dishes made from insects/bugs such as bugs and scorpions, just like Thailand’s famous street recipes. The insects/bugs are deep-fried, laid out on a tray, or skewered depending on the sellers.

The most popular kinds of insects used for this delicacy are crickets and silkworms. Other ingredients you can choose from are grasshoppers, cockroaches, ant eggs, spiders, beetles, and bamboo worms. It is said that the tradition started in 1970s during Khmer Rouge, the radical militia who imposed collective farms and burnt cookbooks, and the population, forced into poverty, were required to feed on anything they could. Today, Cambodia continues to eat and embrace insects. They are more than a street food staple here, more than a culinary gimmick for tourists, and can be found in markets and on restaurant menus all around the country.

#10. Yaohon (Hot pot)

Located in the heart of Phnom Penh, it preserves a tragic period in history with the aim to encourage visitors to be messengers of peace. In 1975, fresh from victory in the Cambodian Civil War, the Khmer regime commandeered the Chao Ponhea Yat High School in Phnom Penh. They turned it into the notorious Yaohon is a Cambodian hot pot that contains a variety of vegetables, meat, and seafood. It was often called “Chhnang Pleurng” by many, this dish is a common favorite, especially during informal or social gatherings. The broth is based on a mixture of coconut milk or cream, chicken broth, and coconut soda, and it is typically flavored with barbecue sauce, fish sauce, soybean curd sauce, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and palm sugar.

This delicacy which incorporates assorted vegetables as well as non-vegetarian ingredients, can be made in more ways than one, as, every family in different region seems to have its unique ways of cooking this broth, which also depends on several factors such as availability of ingredients and personal preferences.

Typical vegetables include watercress, spinach, and bok choy, while the selection of meat and seafood usually includes beef, chicken, shrimps, squids, oysters, and mussels. Other ingredients featured in this flavor-packed broth are crushed peanuts, quail eggs, mushrooms, and (optionally) beer.