Taste Cambodia
Kroeung paste, prahok and a steam that smells of lemongrass. Cambodian cooking is Khmer, not a milder Thai, and the Mekong is a larder.
Fish amok is a mousse-like curry of freshwater fish, coconut, and kroeung — lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, kaffir lime — steamed in banana leaf until it just sets. It should taste herbal and savoury, not a sweet yellow soup. Prahok, the fermented fish paste, seasons soups and dips more often than visitors expect. Nom banh chok is a breakfast noodle with green fish gravy; kampot pepper is a coastal pride. Phnom Penh's river fish and Battambang's rice belt cook differently from the Cardamom hills. Rice is the centre; the amok is a special-occasion texture.
16 recipes · 1 cuisine
Essential dishes
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Further Cambodia listings, including shorter editorial recipes and imported methods.
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Regional cuisines
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Take the Cambodia food quizFood history
Angkor-era rice and fish, Indianised spice pastes, Chinese noodles, and a French colonial market that left bread and coffee without replacing prahok. The Khmer Rouge famine and the destruction of cooks and recipes is part of the modern story; revival cooking in Phnom Penh restaurants is a reconstruction as well as a tradition. Thai and Vietnamese neighbours share ingredients and argue about them. Amok's steamed-set texture is Khmer even when coconut appears next door. Honesty means naming that rupture without turning every plate into a tragedy essay, and still describing the paste.
Common ingredients
Techniques
- steaming in banana leaf
- kroeung pounding
- prahok ferment
- coconut simmering
- rice cooking