21 Cambodia Street Food [Updated 2023]
Do you want to know the top Cambodian street food everyone should try? Are you interested in trying our famous Cambodian dishes on the streets and what do normal working people in Cambodia eat?
Cambodia street food offers unique and surprising delicacies that are strange to the eyes and stomach for most visitors. It is not for apprehensive travelers you have to be open-minded and adventurous.
Despite the fact that street food is not as famous as Thailand, the cuisine is very delicious and flavorful with unique combination of ingredients. The cuisine has been over-shadowed by the neighboring Thailand and Vietnam. However, once you immerse yourself in Cambodian cuisine, you will discover unique and incredible flavors.
It means that street food in Cambodia, from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, will give you an incredible experience, a true culinary adventure. When you immerse yourself in the culinary culture of Khmer Street, you will find exquisite delicacies and wonderful delicacies. Check out our list of the 21 best foods in streets.
Num Pang
Introduced by the French during the period of colonization of Indochina, Cambodia calls it this delicacy Num pang. This sandwich is typically served with fleshy ingredients such as pate, ham or pork served with cucumber, carrots, chives and chives. You will find Num pang street vendors with their carts outside the markets or near office buildings. They are easily identifiable with the baguettes exposed on the carts. This dish is part of best Cambodia foods in street.
NgeavChamhoy
This dish is part of street food of Cambodia. It is a well-known dish and its translation would be the Cambodian oyster. But its name in Cambodia is NgeavChamhoy. This mollusk is one of the most desired by tourists and native inhabitants of the town, since they can enjoy it in many ways some people eat it with ginger, lemon juice, or pepper and there are some adventurers one who enjoy it with citronella.
Nom BanhChok
Another great street dish is the Nom BanhChok, surely the name seems quite complicated, but in reality it is a simple dish that is made with bean sprouts, some noodles, cucumber and also the flowers of the banana. You can also add a variety of spices to flavor the dish that is also common in Russia.
BaiSachChrouk
This dish consists of Pork with rice. Baisachchrouk is one of Cambodia’s most popular breakfast dishes. It is impossible not to read about it in travel articles! It is the most ubiquitous breakfast in Cambodia and all tourists who are curious about local food usually enjoy it.
It contains pork (sachchrouk or chrouk) that is marinated and then roasted (ideally, in charcoal), cut into thin slices and accompanied with rice (bai, in Khmer) and pickled vegetables. The marinade is made from coconut milk, garlic, palm sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime and Kampot pepper.
NumPlae Ai
The speculation around this particular dish is interesting because the nom plaeai (or numplaeai) is a rice cake that is also known as nom somlappdey, meaning the dessert that kills husbands. This Cambodian street food and it contains glutinous rice flour as the main ingredient to prepare it. It cannot be substituted for normal rice flour, since it completely changes the texture of the candy. The distinctive feature of the nom plaeai is that it is sticky and chewy, which cannot be achieved with standard normal rice flour.
Cambodia BBQ
Barbecue is a very popular dish in many countries in the Asian continent and in the world, Many cultures and communities people enjoy a barbecue on a weekend, but the barbecue of Cambodia it is another level of deliciousness. Barbeque of street Cambodia food, consists of different types of meat, such as chicken, seafood, lamb, cow among others, which is cooked in a deep pot so that the fat and water settles at bottom of the pot.
Jaggery Wine and Water
I bet you don’t know any country in the world where they can make wine with brown sugar.Jaggery wine and water is made from brown sugar and waterthen fermented to produce wine. Surely you wonder how it is done, but nobody really knows since it is an ancient recipe
Num Sang Khyal‘peou
This is considered a dessert, but you can also enjoy it at lunch. This dish consists of a pumpkin that is cooked for 30 minutes then mixed with egg and coconut milk with some wine. It is then placed to cook for a delicious tasty desert.
Amok
Amok is food on Cambodia streets made from chicken, tofu, egg or fish in a curry sauce made mainly of coconut milk, galangal, citronella, kaffir lime leaves, turmeric, garlic and shallots. It is then steamed in banana leaves in the form of trays.
Fish Amok is one of the unique traditional dishes, hidden behind the rather simple appearance but in reality, it is a very sophisticated and delicate dish. The ingredients of Amok steamed fish are extremely rich that are snakehead or catfish, but the best is still channidae. Additionally, there are also very specific flavors such as coconut milk, eggs, thyme sugar, sauce Cambodian prahok and herbs that are all blend harmoniously to create unique dishes that anyone cannot ignore.
Coconut Water
This is a drink that is obtained in the streets of Cambodia and it is certainly a dish that does not need much explanation, since it is coconut water, this is because Cambodia is a great producer of coconuts and that is why most of its dishes they carry either coconut water or coconut milk. In this case many people enjoy refreshing coconut water on a hot day
Cha HouyTeuk
This dish is part of street Cambodia food that is very colorful and very attractive to children since it consists of a mixture of colors that together with coconut water and jelly. You get the colors from the pumpkin for yellow color, red beans for red and cocoyam for the violet. Many people enjoy this dish which is normally served with ice.
Insects
Worms and crickets are probably two of the most popular insects you will find in Cambodia, in addition to red ants. You will also find spiders and edible scorpions, although these multi-legged arachnids are more popular among tourists than among locals. Honestly, we believe that worms and crickets are much more attractive to prove than spiders and scorpions.
The worms are soft with a slightly crunchy skin and a pleasant nutty taste, while crickets are definitely crunchier and meatier. Either way, they are a great source of protein and unique and tasty! You will find street vendors selling all kinds of insects in the markets. They are usually grilled and sold in large baskets sold by the can or cup.
Prahok
Prahok is made from ground freshwater fish after removing your intestine and then seasoned with salt and spices such as: sugar, garlic, pepper, etc. and covered in a jar for several months until ready to be eaten. This is a traditional dish of Cambodian cuisine. Pasta is very salty because it is seasoned with salt – the main ingredient. This is an indispensable ingredient for processing noodle dishes and many other street food of Cambodian.
Duck Egg
Balut refers to the fertilized embryo of a duck or duck egg. This snack can be found in neighboring countries of Southeast Asia such as the Philippines and Vietnam, but that of Cambodia remains simple: instead of being covered with a wide selection of herbs and condiments, only a little garnish is served along with the egg of duck. It is an all-time favorite of Cambodians, as it is nutritious and rich in protein.
Phnom Penh Noodles
This delicious Cambodia street food is very popular around the country. It is basically noodles with minced meat and a variety of vegetables like chives, peppers and onions. Cambodians always add soy sauce for that unique flavor.
Mi char
This traditional rice noodle soup dish is a popular street dish, in neighboring countries and in countries that have a large population of Khmer. Originally developed by Cambodians of Chinese origin, it is always served with lettuce leaf dressings, bean sprouts, chopped scallions, coriander, meat, fried eggs, lemon juice, and chili sauce. My char can be served in one of two ways, with all the ingredients in the soup, or with the soup next to it. Both versions have the same ingredients and allow the diner to control the balance of flavors, temperatures and textures.
Cambodian Bamboo Sticky Rice
Bamboo sticky rice, known as Kralan, it is a type of sticky rice roasted bamboo canes. It is made from sticky rice mixed with black beans, grated coconut and coconut milk. The mixture is packed in a bamboo cane and slowly roasted over charcoal fire until cooked.
In Cambodia, the rice used in bamboo sticky rice is a special type of fragrant rice that comes from terraced rice paddies in the Battambang and Kratie provinces. The taste is sweet and slightly salty with hints of smoked flavors. It is a perfect street Cambodia food a delicious and filling sandwich that can be eaten any time of the day.
The city of Battambang in the northwestern region of the country is popular for bamboo sticky rice. It is the second largest city in Cambodia and one of the most important rice producing provinces in the country. Sticky rice is highly recommended as locals call this area “sticky rice villages.”
Cambodia Sausages
Sausages are a widely known food in the world and Cambodia is no exception. As a street food of Cambodia sausages are known by the name of Khmer sausages or Cambodian sausage, but they are different from those of the whole world, since these sausages are sweet, since they are made with palm sugar
Sausages are sold as skewers or as small sausage balls. After seeing how popular the sausages were with the locals, we bought a sausage to try. The red color and taste surprised us. We learned that sausages are made with palm sugar and are made up of half pork and half fat.
Coffee
This dish is the best street Cambodia food. The carts are typically motorcycle sidecars or are pulled by motorcycles or converted tuk-tuks. Iced coffee, or Gah-fay dteuk-gork in Khmer, is a popular sweet and refreshing drink for locals.
It is the drip coffee of Cambodia served with condensed milk. Sweet and strong, coffee can be served with ice or condensed milk for an even sweeter taste. Some Cambodians prefer rosemary with condensed milk. Quickly melting ice dilutes the strength of coffee and sugar, making it much more tolerable.
During peak hours in the morning and after class or work in the afternoon, coffee carts are visible everywhere.
Cambodia Wrapping Cakes
The nom pao or Cambodia wrapping cakes or bao, are small brioches with a tasty filling, usually made with meat, which is then steamed. They are the true icons of Cambodian street food and more broadly, Asian.
The nom pao is also prepared at home for New Year’s Eve or during large family celebrations. Since it takes a long time to prepare them, they are not usually cooked in small quantities, so you can also take advantage to prepare a feast for your family and friends.
Snails with Soda
The final Cambodian street food in this guide is dedicated to snails, but in Cambodia they cook them with a special ingredient, which is Coca-Cola, with this they acquire a sweet taste that children love.
Conclusion
Cambodia’s cuisine is highly influenced by its neighbors, like India and China, so it has an oriental taste to it. Cambodian food closely resembles Thai, Lao and Vietnamese, although it has its own subtle nuance due to the traditional ingredients used in all dishes. That said, it is not as spicy as that of Thailand and Vietnam. Freshwater rice and fish are the staple foods and each meal consists of soup, main course and dessert.
Take a trip to Cambodia and try some of these delicious and flavorful dishes.