Khmer cuisine () is another name for the food widely consumed in Cambodia. The food of Cambodia includes tropical fruits, rice, noodles, drinks, dessert and various soups.

The staple food for Cambodians is rice. Almost every meal includes a bowl of rice, although noodles are also popular. A wide range of curries, soups and stir fried are served with rice. Many rice varieties are available in Cambodia, including aromatic rice and glutinous or sticky rice. The latter is more commonly in desserts with fruits like durian.

Khmer Cuisine shares much in common with the food of neighbouring Thailand, although it is generally not as spicy; and Vietnam, with whom it shares many common dishes and a colonial history, both being part of the French colonial empire in Southeast Asia. It has also drawn upon influences from the cuisines of China and France, both of whom are powerful players in Cambodian history. Curry dishes, known as kari (in Khmer, ) shows a trace of cultural influence from India. The many variations of rice noodles show the influences from Chinese cuisine. Rice noodle soup, known simply as Kuyteav (), is a popular dish brought to Cambodia by Chinese settlers from generations past. Also, Banh Chiao is the Khmer version of the Vietnamese Bánh xèo. A legacy of the French is the baguette, which the Cambodians often eat with pâté, tinned sardines or eggs. One of these with a cup of strong coffee, sweetened with condensed milk, makes an excellent breakfast that will set up for day.

Typically, Cambodians eat their meals with at least three or four separate dishes. A meal will usually includes a soup, or samlor, served alongside the main courses. Each individual dish will be either sweet, sour, salty or bitter. Chilli is usually left up to the individual to add themselves. In this way Cambodians ensure that they get a bit of every flavour to satisfy their palates.

Several cooking courses are now run in popular tourist areas, giving visitors the chance to share the culinary secret of the Khmers.

Ingredients

Spices

Unknown in Asia prior to the 16th century, the chili pepper arrived with the Portuguese. More years still passed before the chili pepper reached Cambodia, and to this day chili peppers in Khmer cooking
lack the status they hold in neighbouring Thailand, Laos or Malaysia. Tamarind is commonly employed as a soup base for dishes such as samlar machu. Star anise is a must when caramelizing meats in palm sugar like pork in the dish known as pak lov. Turmeric, galangal, ginger, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves are essential spices in Khmer cooking, Khmer stews, and nearly all curries. Recipes 4 Us Accessed July 21, 2007.
As the country has an extensive network of waterways, freshwater fish plays a large part in the diet of most Cambodians, making its way into many recipes. Daily fresh catches come from the Mekong River, Bassac River and the vast Tonlé Sap. With freshwater fish central to Cambodian diet, all other meats take a back seat, but pork and chicken are popular. While not as common as in neighboring Vietnam, vegetarian food is still a part of Khmer cuisine and often favored by more observant Buddhists.

A common ingredient, which is almost a national institution, is a the pungent type of fermented fish paste, in many dishes as a distinctive flavouring known as prahok(). It's an acquired taste for most Westerners, but it's beloved by some Khmers and is used in may dishes or eaten as a dipping sauce. The liberal use of Prahok, which adds a salty tang to many dishes, is a characteristic which distinguishes Khmer cuisine apart from that of its neighbour. When prahok is not used, it is likely to be kapǐ () instead, a kind of fermented shrimp paste. Preserved lemons are another unusual ingredient not commonly found in the cooking of Cambodia's neighbours, and is used in some Khmer dishes. Cambodian cuisine also uses fish sauce widely in soups, stir-fried dishes, and as a dipping sauce. Coconut milk is the main ingredient of many Khmer curries and desserts.

Kroeung

From India, by way of Java, Cambodians have been taught the art of blending spice paste using many ingredients like cardamom, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and turmeric. Other native ingredients like lemongrass, galangal, garlic, shallots, cilantro, and kaffir lime leaves are added to these spices to make a distinctive and complex spice blend called "kroeung." This is an important aromatic paste commonly used in Cambodian cooking. Star Chefs Accessed July 21, 2007..

Vegetables

Many vegetables used in Khmer cuisine are also used in Chinese cuisine. Unusual vegetables such as winter melon, bitter melon, luffa, and yardlong beans can be found in soups and stews. Oriental squash can be stewed, stir fried or sweetened and steamed with coconut milk as a dessert. Vegetables like mushrooms, cabbage, baby corn, bamboo shoots, fresh ginger, Chinese broccoli, snow peas, and bok choy are commonly used in many different stir fry dishes. Together these are known by the generic term chha (ឆា). Banana blossoms are sliced and added to some noodle dishes like nom banh chok.

Fruits

Fruits in Cambodia are so popular that they have their own royal court. The durian is considered the King, the mangosteen the queen, sapodilla the prince and the "milk fruit" (phlai teuk doh ko) the princess. Other popular fruits include: the jan fruit, kuy fruit, romduol,
pineapple, star apple, rose apple, coconut, palmyra fruit, jackfruit, papaya, watermelon, banana, mango and rambutans. Although fruits are usually considered desserts, some fruits such as ripe mangoes, watermelon, and pineapples are eaten commonly with heavily salted fish with plain rice. Fruits are also made into beverages called tuk kolok (), mostly shakes. Popular fruits for shakes are durian, mangoes, bananas.

Meats

Fish is the most common form of meat in Khmer cuisine. Dried salted fish known as trei ngeat () are a favourite with plain rice porridge. The popular Khmer dish called amok uses a kind of catfish steamed in a savoury coconut based curry. Pork is quite popular in making sweet Khmer sausages known as twah ko (). Beef and chicken are stewed, grilled or stir fried. Seafood includes an array of shellfish like clams, cockles, crayfish, shrimp and squid. Lobsters are not commonly eaten because of their price, but middle class and rich Cambodians enjoy eating them at Sihanoukville. Duck roasted in Chinese char siu style is popular during festivals. More unusual meats include frog, turtle, and various arthropods like tarantulas; these would be difficult to find in Khmer cuisine abroad, but are enjoyed as everyday delights in Cambodia.

Noodles

Many elements of Cambodian noodle dishes were inspired by Chinese and Vietnamese cookingThe Worldwide Gourmet Accessed July 21, 2007. despite maintaining a unique Khmer variation. Prahok is never used with noodle dishes. Rice stick noodles are used in Mee Katang (), which is a Cambodian variation of chǎo fěn with gravy. Unlike the Chinese styled chǎo fěn, the noodles are plated under the stir fry beef and vegetables and is topped off with scrambled eggs. Burmese style noodles ( - Mee Kola) is a vegetarian dish made from thin rice stick noodles, steamed and cooked with soy sauce and garlic chives. This is served with pickled vegetables Jroak (), julienned eggs, and sweet garlic fish sauce garnished with crushed peanuts. Mi Cha () is stir fried egg noodles.

Spiders

Other delicacies include the Skuon spider, (a-ping) which is deep fried with lashings of salt and pepper until it turns a deep brown color and served piping hot. The spider as culinary haute cuisine. It was during the Khmer Rouge years that the Cambodians, starving slaves in the rice fields, burrowed into the fields for food and found sustenance in the form of bugs, water beetles and the Skuon spider, a palm sized tarantula, which turned out to be pretty delicious. Skuon is some 50 km north of Phnom Penh and on a good day, a spider vendor can sell between 100-200 spiders.

The hairy black Skuon spider is part of Cambodia’s traditional pharmacy, especially when soaked in rice wine, and treats backache and kids with colds.

Popular dishes

• Amok trey () - Fish in a thick coconut milk with curry, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed.

• Ansom chek () - A cylindrical rice cake wrapped in banana leaves filled with bananas.

• Ansom chrook () - A cylindrical rice cake wrapped in banana leaves filled with pork and mung bean paste.

• Babar () - A type of congee or rice porridge, plain or usually with chicken or pork served with fresh bean sprouts and green onions. (Babar Praey - salted Congee)

• Bai cha () - A Khmer variation of fried rice which includes Chinese sausages, garlic, soy sauce, and herbs, usually eaten with pork.

• Ban Hoaw () - Steamed Vermicelli noodles with mint, crushed peanuts, pickled vegetables, and deep fried egg rolls, cut into bite sized pieces, lathered in sweet fish sauce.

• Bok L'hong () - Khmer green papaya salad, pounded in a mortar and pestle. Related to Laotian Tam Mak Hang, the salad may include the herb kantrop, Thai basil, string beans, roasted peanuts, cherry tomatoes, fermented small crabs, smoked or dried fish, and chili peppers. Mixed with a savory dressing of lime juice, fish sauce and/or prahok.

• Caw () - A braised pork or chicken and egg stew flavored in caramelized palm sugar. It may or may not contain Tofu or bamboo shoots. This dish is similar to the Vietnamese dish of Thịt Kho.

• Cha knyey () - A spicy dish of meat stir fried with julienne ginger root, black pepper, and fresh jalapeños or fresh peppers.

• Jroak sway () - Unripe julienned mango salad flavored with fish sauce and peppers. Usually served as a side dish with fried or baked fish and rice.

• Kuytheav () - A traditional Cambodian pork broth based noodle soup dish served with the garnishes of fresh bean sprouts, chopped green onions and cilantro. It has Chinese (Teochew) origins.

• Loc Lac () - Stir fried cubed beef served with fresh red onions, served on a bed of lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes and dipped in a sauce consisting of lime juice and/or black pepper. This is derived from the Vietnamese dish known as Bò lúc lắc.

• Lou - Cambodian thick short noodles, with added eggs and chicken, eaten mainly with fish sauce.

• Nom Banhchok () - Rice vermicelli noodles with raw vegetables. There are two different soups that can accompany this dish, a green or red soup. The green soup is made of ground fish, lemon grass, and kroeung. The red soup is made from tenderized chicken and a simple coconut curry. Samlor Kari can be substituted over the two soups.

• Ngam nguv - A chicken soup flavoured with whole preserved lemons.

• Samlor kari nom banh jok () - A traditional spicy coconut curry rice vermicelli noodle soup dish with chicken served with fresh string beans, shredded cabbage, carrots, and unripe papaya. The soup is also used as a dipping sauce for fresh French baguettes.

• Somlar kari () - Red coconut chicken curry soup with sweet potatoes, julienned onion, and bamboo shoot.

• Samlar machu () - A popular sour soup with a tamarind base. Includes meat such as chicken or fish, tomatoes, lotus roots, water greens, herbs and may be flavored with prahok. It is similar to the Vietnamese canh chua.

• Sankya Lapov () - A dessert made of pumpkin and coconut flan.

• Yao hon or yaohon () - A Khmer style hot pot for dipping beef, shrimp, spinach, dill, napa cabbage, rice noodles and mushrooms. It is similar to the Japanese sukiyaki, however, it is derived from Chinese hot pot.

• Kralan a cake made from steamed rice mixed with beans or peas, grated coconut and coconut milk.