3/12/22, 2:49 PM 13 Cambodian Dishes You Should Know

FILED UNDER:
SOUTHEAST ASIAN CUISINES

13 Cambodian Dishes You Should Know

by
Jennifer Kikoler

Updated Sep. 11, 2020

With the enormous Tonlé Sap lake in the north, the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers
running through the center, and the Gulf of Thailand at the southern coast, seafood is
part of daily eating and always sparkling fresh. Often, it’s simply grilled or fried. These
small squid were grilled on a tableside brazier, and like so many Cambodian dishes,
this dish is all about the trimmings: sliced cucumber, Asian basil, and a combination of
fish sauce, garlic, chili and lime juice. When you skewer a little of everything together,
you get a delicious combination of flavors and textures: tender squid, cool cucumber
crunch, snappy basil, and sweet-spicy sauce.
[Image: Jennifer Kikoler]

T
here's a delicious smell of burning wood that permeates the air in Cambodia. It
reminds me of the best barbecue or the coziest bonfire and it comes from the
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3/12/22, 2:49 PM 13 Cambodian Dishes You Should Know
reminds me of the best barbecue or the coziest bonfire, and it comes from the
hardwood charcoal that flames and smolders all day in small clay stoves, wire-
topped braziers, and beneath woks and rice and soup pots.

That smell is just a hint at what's to come. When I arrived as an NGO volunteer in this
Southeast Asian country two months ago, I had no idea what to expect on my plate.
What I found was this: Cambodia's food is often all about the contrasts—sweet and
bitter, salty and sour, fresh and cooked. It shares many dishes with its neighbors, and
you'll find noodle soup similar to Vietnamese phở and sandwiches like bánh mì,
Thailand's refreshing salads and sour soups, Indian-inspired curries, and noodles and
stir fries handed down from years of Chinese migration. From Cambodia's days as a
French Indochina colony, there's a national love of coffee, pate, and good bread.
Baguettes are served with soup, made into sandwiches, and sold by men riding
bicycles carrying baskets of long loaves.

Cambodia is filled with lively markets and spirited street vendors. Eating can be a
breathless sport: many street vendors are on the move all day, pushing rolling woks
and grills on wheels, riding motorbikes with cooktops attached to the side, and
cruising on bicycles with mango-filled baskets attached to the back. Markets open at
sunrise with soups and porridge, stir-fried dishes roll out mid-morning, and by
afternoon grills are filled with the day's catches. Open-front restaurants set up
sidewalk tables to entice people passing by on foot, in tuk-tuks or on motos.

Condiments and accessories are important. The side plates of greens, herbs, peppers,
limes or sauces that appear before you are always the thing that snaps your dish
together. Sometimes this is a heap of fresh herbs and sliced vegetables; other times
it's combination of fish sauce, chopped chilies, shallots, garlic, and palm sugar, or a
make-it-yourself mix of black pepper, salt, and lime juice.

Your dining table will have a dispenser of tiny, floral-scented napkins and a mug with
filled with hot water and utensils: the water is for sterilizing the spoons, forks, and, if
noodles are involved, chopsticks. Pick out your utensils, wipe them down with a tiny
napkin, and dig in.

Check out the slideshow for 13 unique dishes from this Southeast Asian nation.

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