Khmer Cuisines
There are many Khmer traditional dishes that are widely known across the world because of its unique taste and flavor. Most Khmer food consists of ingredients such as turmeric, galangal, garlic, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves which are pounded together to make the paste called kroeung, commonly used in cooking. There are five main dishes in Cambodia that you must try when visiting Cambodia and those are Fish Amok, Nom Banh Chok, Khmer Red Curry, Samlor Korkor, and Beef Lok Lak.
Fish Amok
Known as the most popular and signature dish of Cambodia, you can almost find this option on any menus in any country. The main ingredients in this dish are kroeung, chili paste, coconut milk, and fish. You can alternate this dish by using chicken or tofu instead of fish as well. In order to start cooking, you must first have your kroeung paste ready. Then, you must mix your kroeung, fish, chili paste, and coconut milk altogether and after mixing it well, you must let it rest in a bowl for 15 minutes. You must only use the fish meat and can’t let any bones in there. After that, you must set up a steamer and cut up 3-4 rectangular shapes from banana leaves. You then pour the marinated fish evenly into each rectangle and don’t forget to add coconut milk and a fresh red chili on top as well. Let the fish steam for 20 minutes until the fish is cooked through and then you can enjoy your meal hot with steamed white jasmine rice.
Nom Banh Chok
Nom Banh Chok, otherwise known as Khmer noodles is often served during breakfast or consumed as an afternoon snack. It’s a very long and complicated process before the noodles are made in the Nom Banh Chok. You have to soak rice into water for approximately 2-4 hours before grinding them into a liquid paste which will be poured and pressed into a circular shape into a calico bag and left to dry away. This will pulverize and create a viscous paste which will be extruded in boiling water for 3-4 minutes. We will then transfer this into the cold water and gather the small stripes out of the water or the noodles to put into a basket. We normally serve Nom Banh Chok by topping the noodles with light fish gravy accompanied by fresh herbs, and green vegetables. Those vegetables include snake beans, banana blossom, mint, basil, water lily, and pickled cucumber. Most Nom Banh Chok are served when its cold, it’s rare to eat it when it’s hot.
Khmer Red Curry
This famous Cambodian dish also called as Samlor Kiri is very popular in big events only such as Pchum Behn or Ancestor’s Day, weddings, and family gatherings. Even though its color is red, it’s not spicy at all. The main ingredients in this dish consist of coconut milk, eggplants, potatoes, green beans, and red kroeung paste (curry paste). We can use beef, chicken, or fish as the meat in the Khmer Red Curry. We normally dip the bread into the Curry since it’s a perfect combination. However, eating the curry with steamed white rice is also delicious as well. It’s more preferrable serving this dish when it’s hot.
Samlor Korkor
In Khmer, the word Samlor means soup and the word Korkor means mixing or stirring. This defines what Samlor Korkor is since it’s basically a mixture of different kind of vegetables in a soup. Samlor Korkor is originally made from fish meat but nowadays we can use chicken meat and pork as well. We start cooking by mixing the meat with prahok and kroeung until it is slightly cooked. We then add water and fermented fish sauce. We add low heat until the water boil so that we can add our vegetables such as long beans, winged beans, pumpkins, green papayas, eggplants, and green bananas. We have to cook until all the vegetables slightly wilt. Similarly, to Fish Amok and Khmer Red Curry, you would find this dish very tasty when its hot and serve with steamed white rice.
Beef Lok Lak
This Cambodian Black Pepper Beef or known as Lok Lak is a simple yet the most beloved dish by most people. The sauces used in this dish to create the sweet, spicy, sour, salty, and savory flavor include salt, sugar, pepper, garlic, and lime. We can slice our beef into cubic shapes and we fermented them with those sauces above when cooking. Once our beef is cooked, we can prepare a plate with sliced vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers. We can never forget the crispy lettuce leaves as well. We pour our marinated beef on those vegetables making them slightly wilting. You can enjoy Lok Lak with pepper lime sauce and steamed white rice when is it’s still hot to ensure the best taste.
