Khmer Cuisine

Some guide books say that Cambodia's cuisine is nothing to write home about and a poorer cousin to Thai and Vietnamese cuisines. Now, that is completely untrue.
A thousand years ago the Khmer Kingdom, which centred on Angkor, ruled an empire that included most of south-east Asia. Hence, many of the Thai and other regional dishes have their roots in Khmer cooking from that time!

While there are similarities, Cambodian cuisine should be taken in its own right. Khmer recipes go back to the days before the introduction of the chilli, so are consequently much milder than most Asian food.

Traditional Cambodian cuisine is one of detail, of small amounts of fresh ingredients with intriguing textures, complex aromas and exhilarating flavours, combined to create a distinctly light, delicate and healthy cuisine.

Fist, both fresh and its preserved forms - prahok (fermented) and trei chha-ae (smoked), plentiful from the Great Lake (Tonle Sap) and the Mekong River are predominant components of Cambodian cuisine, as are lemon grass, kaffir lime, galangal, turmeric, garlic and shallot. Cambodian cuisine differs from others in the region in its careful use of chillies, in only a few dishes are they cooked with other ingredients. Rather, chillies are served on the side on the side and left to each person's taste whether or not to add them to the food.

Khmer Cuisine

Want to try your hand at cooking any of the Khmer dishes featured below?

Then simply click on any of our featured dishes pictured below and a easy to follow step-by-step recipe guide for that dish will pop up, informing you of the ingredients you will require, preparation and cooking times, additions and alternatives and serving suggestion. The Sihanoukville Gazette brining you the joy and taste of true Khmer food.