What to eat Cambodia? culinary specialties and gastronomy

The fruit of a long history and centuries of exchanges with its neighbors, traditional Khmer cuisine, like the Cambodian people, suffered enormously from the Khmer Rouge presence in the 1970s, which strove to eradicate all traditions, especially aristocratic ones, from the country. Royal Khmer cuisine consists mainly of refined dishes, prepared with meticulous attention to detail, an abundance of meat, fish and seafood and generous use of coconut milk, in contrast to peasant cuisine, which consists of vegetables and cereals. Cambodian chefs are trying to revive these endangered traditions.
A local meal generally consists of white rice accompanied by a soup or dish. The presentation of dishes, even in simple settings, is still generally important. Locals usually eat with a spoon and fork, like the Thais, but much more rarely with chopsticks, unlike the Vietnamese. Many peasants still eat Indian-style, with the right hand. Cambodians generally eat breakfast away from home, in small restaurants or from street vendors, where you'll find rice dishes with meat in sauce or noodle soups. Lunch and dinner are served at times similar to those in France, and generally consist of rice with soup, meat and vegetables.
Meat dishes include chicken, pork, beef and, of course, fish - sea or river - frog legs, shellfish, crab and shrimp, including the giant freshwater shrimp, considered a luxury item. Snakes, locusts and tarantulas were and still are considered delicacies. Duck eggs incubated with an embryo inside(pong tir kone), also eaten in the Philippines or Vietnam, are highly prized, though unlikely to be to every traveler's taste. Dried fish paste in brine(prahok) is a major condiment in Cambodian cuisine. Kapi is a highly aromatic shrimp paste. Last but not least, fish sauce(tik trei) is as popular as oyster sauce and soy sauce.
Common herbs and spices include basil, mint, coriander, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves(combawa), long coriander, garlic, galanga, ginger and fresh turmeric. A major condiment in Cambodia, kroeung is most often a puree of lemongrass, galanga, kaffir lime leaves, turmeric, shallot, garlic and combava zest. Prepared using only fresh, not dried, ingredients, this highly aromatic paste is used in a wide variety of dishes. It can be green (with lots of lemongrass), red (with chili pepper) or yellow (with a generous amount of turmeric). Kampot pepper, produced only in the province of the same name in the south of the country, has had a PGI since 2010. Black, white, red and green, this variety of pepper is known for its intense flavor, which is more subtle and less pungent than traditional pepper. Finally, tamarind is the pod of a tree, prized for its creamy, tangy brown pulp.
Vegetables abound in the local cuisine. The most classic are eggplant, cabbage, carrot, tomato, squash, sweet bell pepper, sweet potato, bean sprouts, cucumber and more. There are also more exotic products, such as banana flowers, eaten in salads, or breadfruit, whose firm flesh, once cooked, is slightly reminiscent of bread. While ripe papaya is a fragrant fruit with a slight melon flavour, green papaya is a vegetable with an acidic taste, eaten with salt and chillies. Cashew nuts and peanuts are regularly eaten.

Meals in Cambodia are not divided in the same way as in France, and all dishes are served on the table at the same time. Often considered the national dish,amok is a spicy fish mousse with coconut milk, steamed in a banana leaf tray. More than just a condiment, prahok is also used on its own, to accompany raw vegetables or to garnish a meat or vegetable dish. For example, prahok ktis, containing coconut pulp, minced pork and eggs, is served with fresh vegetables. Tuk prahok steak is a recipe for grilled beef, served rare in thin slices with prahok sauce, basil, coriander, mint, lime juice and more. Very similar ingredients can be used to prepare tuk kroeung, a sauce in which to dip vegetable sticks, baby greens and so on.
Pleah sach ko is a thinly sliced beef salad marinated with prahok, shallot, basil, coriander, mint and more. Another salad, nhoam svay kchei, consists of green mango and grated carrot with dried fish and chili pepper. And let's not forget the famous bok lahong, or green papaya salad. Fish dishes include trei boeng kanhchhet, a whole fried fish garnished with vegetables and a spicy coconut milk and kroeung sauce. Chhar kdam merec is crab sautéed with Kampot pepper.
Rice - as well as being the almost automatic accompaniment to most dishes - is the basis for many recipes, such as bai cha, a kind of Cambodian-style rice with diced vegetables, sausage and omelette. In the morning, rice is often eaten with stir-fried pork cut into strips(bai sach chrouk) or with chicken(bai sach maon), or as porridge with fish, pork or chicken(borbor). Rice can be used to prepare noodles such as num banh chok, made from fermented rice, cooked with coconut milk, fish and kroeung, then served with a fresh sauce of fish, crudités, fresh herbs, etc. Kuyteav kouk is a recipe for vermicelli sautéed with various fillings: beef, pork, vegetables, etc. This dish can be made into a soup by stir-frying. This dish can be transformed into a soup by adding pork broth, and is called " kuyteav ".
Soups are very popular. For example, samlor machou, a sour soup seasoned with tamarind, lemongrass and turmeric, with a variety of fillings: pork, beef, chicken, fish, shrimp, vegetables, etc. Samlor kako contains vegetables and meat or fish, all seasoned with kroeung, prahok and herbs. Samlor kari is a rich, curry-like soup with coconut milk, mixed vegetables, meat and chili pepper. Indian-influenced curries are also very popular. Kari sach moan is a red chicken curry with coconut milk, sweet potato and chili pepper, while kari saraman is a rich, moderately spicy beef curry with coconut.
Khor ko is the Cambodian equivalent of beef with carrots, lemongrass, soy sauce, spices and more. Char kroeung sach moan is a chicken dish sautéed with the essential kroeung. There is also a beef version(char kroeung sach ko). Lok lak, beef sticks sautéed in a caramelized brown sauce, is usually served with raw vegetables (cucumber, tomato, lettuce). Chha kh'nhei is a recipe for stir-fried meat (beef, pork, chicken) with lots of ginger.
Prepared with pork, twa ko are small, short sausages flavored with herbs, galanga, garlic and topped with peanuts. They are a common sight in markets, as are slab moan boak, boneless chicken wings stuffed with minced pork, rice vermicelli and herbs. Similar to Vietnamese bánh mì , num pang is a baguette sandwich filled with lacquered pork and crudités. The num banh chao is a pancake made with coconut milk, rice flour and turmeric, topped with minced pork, lettuce leaves, carrot-chili sauce and roasted peanuts. Vegetables also include nhoam sdaw, young neem leaves - slightly bitter - sautéed with dried shrimp, or chha trokoun, fried water bindweed.

Traditionally, meals don't end with dessert, and sweets are usually snacks eaten during the day or for important rituals. Rice, coconut and banana are the main ingredients. Often sold in markets, num kong are ring-shaped cookies made from rice flour, glazed with palm sugar and topped with sesame seeds. Also very common, num kroch are small fried sesame balls filled with mung bean paste, originally from China. Another classic is num ansom chek : a coconut glutinous rice cake topped with banana, mango and black beans, steamed in a banana leaf wrapper.
A favorite at Cambodian wedding banquets, num chak chan is a steamed rice and cassava flour cake with coconut milk, layered with pandan (a type of palm tree with aromatic leaves). Bamboo glutinous rice is called kralan. It is garnished with black beans, coconut milk and palm sugar before being cooked in bamboos over a fire. Finally, sankhya lapov is a coconut cream steamed in a pumpkin.
Cambodian markets are renowned for the variety and quality of their fruit. You'll find bananas, the smallest of which are often very tasty, deliciously sweet mangoes and pineapples, carambola, greenish-yellow and star-shaped when cut, and guava, with its creamy pink pulp that's very fragrant. And let's not forget other lesser-known species like the durian, shaped like a club bristling with spines, with a creamy yellow pulp and a fierce smell somewhere between onion and camembert, which locals love. Up to 60 cm long, the enormous jackfruit has firm, delicately flavored flesh beneath its green skin. Juicy and very crunchy, the water apple has a very mild flavor, as does the rambutan, a kind of lychee bristling with long hairs. The mangosteen, with its thick purplish skin, has a very sweet white pulp. Finally, the sugar palm is as much appreciated for the sweet juice of its sap as for its gelatinous flesh.
These fruits are used to make very popular fruit juices and smoothies(tœ̆k krâlŏk). Green tea is widely consumed both hot and iced with lemon. Coffee is also enjoyed hot with sweetened condensed milk or iced. As for beer, preference goes to the national brand, Angkor Beer, brewed in Sihanoukville. Good and inexpensive, it is available in bottles (large and small), cans and draught. Sombai is a rice alcohol infused with spices and fruit, in the style of arranged rums, originating from Siem Reap and packaged in beautifully hand-painted and decorated bottles. Also worth noting are classic rice wine(sra sa) and palm wine(tœ̆k tnaot cuu).