Southeast Asia

Cambodian

Kroeung paste, prahok fish funk, and freshwater fish — the quietest, most herbal cooking in Southeast Asia.

41 dishes · 146 ingredients · 18 techniquesReference

Signature·Ingredient

Prahok

Prahok is a fermented fish paste that provides a distinctive umami flavor, central to Cambodian cuisine.

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A Cambodian meal smells of lemongrass before you sit down. The pantry runs on kroeung — a fresh paste of lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime zest, turmeric, and shallots, pounded together by hand in a stone mortar and stirred into nearly every savory dish. The protein is usually freshwater fish — snakehead, catfish, carp — pulled from the Tonlé Sap or the Mekong, and often paired with prahok, the fermented fish paste that gives Khmer food its earthy, savory backbone.

What distinguishes this cooking from Thai or Vietnamese is restraint. There's less chili, more herb. Soups run clearer, sauces are less saucy. Amok Trey — fish steamed in banana leaves with kroeung and coconut milk — is the national dish, and it tastes of almost nothing but lemongrass and cream, yet somehow it tastes of everything. Meals are served family-style: a central platter of rice, two or three little dishes, a plate of fresh herbs, and sour fruit pickles on the side. Gentleness is the signature.

The Palate

Family-styleStreet foodRice-centric

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Amok Trey

Freshwater fish fillet coated in yellow kroeung paste and coconut milk, wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed until the curry sets into a custard-smooth terrine.

Why start here · The national dish — shows the kroeung-and-coconut technique, the banana-leaf steam, and the restraint that defines Khmer cooking as a whole.

Nom Banh Chok

Fermented rice vermicelli topped with a green fish-and-kroeung gravy, banana flower slices, cucumber, and a forest of fresh herbs. Eaten cold, at breakfast, from a roadside vendor.

Why start here · A uniquely Khmer breakfast — nothing else in the region pairs a fermented rice noodle with a fish curry gravy this way.

Lok Lak

Cubed beef stir-fried with garlic, oyster sauce, and pepper, served over lettuce and tomato with a dipping sauce of lime juice, Kampot pepper, and salt.

Why start here · The most approachable Cambodian dinner — teaches the country's love of Kampot pepper and its French-colonial comfort-food inheritance.

Bai Sach Chrouk

Pork marinated in coconut milk and garlic, grilled over charcoal, served over broken rice with a soft fried egg and a small bowl of clear chicken broth. Breakfast, everywhere.

Why start here · The street-corner breakfast of Cambodia — teaches charcoal grilling, broken rice, and the simple home-cooked register that most Khmer meals actually live in.

The Pantry

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Three Kitchens

Three kitchens — Khmer Canon kreoung-and-prahok mainstream, Cham Muslim Halal river-village, Khmer Krom Mekong-Delta borderland. Tap a region to see its table.

Khmer Canon

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The mainstream Khmer table — amok trey fish curry steamed in banana leaves, prahok fermented-fish base, num banh chok rice noodles, the kreoung lemongrass-and-galangal aromatic paste.

Khmer Krom

4 dishes →

Mekong-Delta Khmer-Krom (ethnic Khmer in Vietnam's southwest) — Vietnamese-influenced fish dishes, sour samlor soups, the Cambodian-Vietnamese culinary borderland.

Cham Muslim Cambodian

3 dishes →

Halal-Muslim Cham minority — beef-and-chicken curries with kreoung paste (no pork or fish-paste), smoked-fish preparations, the Islamic-influenced river-village kitchen.