Promotional brochures extolling traditional Cambodian cuisine often showcase images of unusual foods like fried spiders, which might seem gruesome to some. However, these dishes are quite common in Cambodia and can be found if you're adventurous enough to try them. For locals, they are no more unusual than shrimp or other beer appetizers.
While unusual dishes like snake, crocodile, and insects remain a tourist attraction, Cambodian restaurants offer a mix of Thai and French cuisine due to the country's historical ties with France. Seafood, root vegetables, and rice are the staples of Cambodian cuisine, providing a more familiar dining experience.
Cambodian Dishes Worth a Tourist's Try
Bai Sach Chrouk is a simple and delicious dish of rice with pork, often sold at morning street food stalls. Thinly sliced pork is charcoal-grilled, giving it a naturally sweet flavor. Sometimes, the pork is marinated in coconut milk or garlic.
Fish Amok is the Khmer version of an Asian fish dish, distinguished by the addition of slok ngor, a local herb that imparts a slightly bitter flavor to the fish. It's a fish mousse made with coconut milk and krien, a type of Khmer curry paste made from lemongrass, turmeric root, garlic, shallots, sage, and ginger root.
Nom Ban Chok consists of grated rice noodles topped with fish curry, sautéed with lemongrass, turmeric root, and kaffir lime. The dish is garnished with fresh mint leaves, bean sprouts, green beans, banana flowers, cucumbers, and other greens. There's also a version with red curry, typically served on special occasions like weddings or celebrations.
Khmer Red Curry is made with coconut milk but without the addition of chili peppers. It typically includes beef, chicken, or fish, along with ingredients like eggplant, green beans, potatoes, fresh coconut milk, lemongrass, or krien. It's often served with bread, reflecting French influence.
Lap Khmer is a salad featuring lightly browned thinly sliced pieces of beef, topped with lemongrass, shallots, garlic, fish sauce, Asian basil, mint, green beans, and green peppers. This results in a sweet and sour dish that's spiced with hul spice and a generous amount of red chili peppers.
Fried Crab is a specialty of the Cambodian seaside town of Kep (Kaep). These arthropods are flavored with herbs and Kampot-grown peppers. The flavorful Kampot pepper is renowned among food enthusiasts worldwide. While dried Kampot pepper can be found everywhere, only in Cambodia can you savor the taste of unripe pepper peas.
Fried Ants - Of course, we couldn't help but mention at least one insect dish. This dish doesn't consist of ants alone. It includes red ants, beef, and tulasi (holy basil). The ants vary in size, with some barely recognizable and others almost 2.5 centimeters long. They are fried with ginger, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, and thinly sliced beef. A generous amount of chili pepper gives the dish a delightful flavor without overwhelming the slightly sour (thanks to the ants) taste of the meat. The dish is served with rice.
Cambodia's drinks are less extravagant. Of course, if we are not talking about snake cocktail, when the blood of this reptile is added to moonshine of dubious quality. And so you can try a pleiad of wonderful drinks:
- Samrong - tincture of the seeds of the samrong tree.
- Tekdong - filtered coconut milk.
- Tektnot - palm tree sap.
- Dtuk-rolok - a kind of drink made from fruit and egg yolk.
There are good beers sold here, as well as rice and palm wines. There is also rice vodka, and all sorts of tinctures with scorpions and snakes - for the amateur, Cambodia maintains the image of an extreme country and in this respect.
