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The 5 best Khmer soups (Samlor) you must try

Written by André Ruys on 08/16/2022. Posted in cooking class, eat in Siem Reap, eat with locals, food in Cambodia, Kambodscha, Khmer food.

Khmer soups (samlor or samlar) are an important part of Cambodian food. There are different reasons: They can be made fast, only one pot and one fireplace is needed, and you can throw in whatever is available. We listed for you the 5 best samlor we think Cambodian cuisine has to offer. There are, however, lots of more soup recipes available.

Khmer soups are usually made from a clear broth or even water. However, samlor curry for example is a thick soup, while nom ban chock samlor trey is a classic breakfast dish where rice noodles and vegetables are added to the soup. We focus here on the clear soups and what we think are the 5 best Khmer soups you should try when in Cambodia – or cook at home.

We listed the recipes and ingredients as they are told us by our Khmer host families at Dine With The Locals. As in any food culture, those recipes are traded within families, so they differ. They also depend on the season and what is available on the market or in the backyard garden.

1. Samlar Korko

One of the most underrated dishes and yet popular in Cambodian families. What makes this soup so special is the palm sugar melted in oil and the roasted rice powder. Also, the use of young jackfruit slices might be new to you if you only know the sweet fruits.

Ingredients

Half cup Khmer kreung
tablespoon fish paste (prahok)
3 tablespoons of pa-ulr (rice grains, roasted and pounded)
Fish flesh, cleaned and sliced.
or 200g of chicken meat or tofu
Vegetables (pumpkin, green papaya, green banana, green jack fruit, long bean, eggplant, Khmer eggplant, chili leaf, bitter gourd leaf)
1 tablespoon of palm sugar
3 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 liter broth or water

How to make it:

Melt the palm sugar in hot oil in a pot, Once it’s liquid, add the krueng paste (here you can read how to make it). Stir until fragrant, then add the vegetables. Stir and let them brown a bit. Add the chicken and fish or tofu, the fish paste (prahok) fish sauce and water. Let it boil, then add the rice powder and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Somlor Prohor

This is one of the soups where gourd is used. We call this one of the best Khmer soups because we think gourds are often forgotten and we just know cucumbers and pumpkins. In Cambodia, gourd – and in particular the luffa gourd we use here – growing in backyards and on fences of many houses in the countryside.

Ingredients

Meat: snakehead fish or smoked fish

Vegetables: Luffa gourd, winter melon, taro, pumpkin, pumpkin leaves or Ivy leaves, mushroom, rice paddy herb (some regions use it, some do not) lemon grass, turmeric, and garlic or kreung paste.

Soup powder or chicken broth, fermented fish (in Samlork, we use fish sauce), brown sugar, salt, and Kreoung

How to make it:

Melt the sugar in oil and add the kreung paste as well as the prahok. Add water with soup powder or broth, the just add all the vegetables. Bring it to a boil, then lower heat to simmer it for 20 minutes. Don’t stir because the fish will break down. Finally, add the leaves and simmer it for five more minutes.

3. Bitter melon with pork (one of the best Khmer soups in Cambodian cuisine)

Stuffed vegetables are common in many countries. I remember from Germany filled paprika aka bell peppers, where we stuffed minced pork and rice in together with salt and pepper and then let it get done in the oven. In Cambodia, the concept of an oven is not common, dishes are heated on fire, gas stoves or a grill. This Khmer soups can be done with bell peppers or gourd as well.

Ingredients

3 small bitter melons
1/2 lb ground pork
1 small bunch bean thread soaked wash cut to tiny pieces
3 cloves of garlic pound to paste in mortar
2 tbs of dried shrimp soaked set aside
2 tbs of dried turnip wash set aside
1 tbs of soy sauce
1 chicken bouillon cube
½ tsp salt
2 green onions chopped for garnish
4 ½ cups water

Best Khmer soups in Cambodia: Bitter melon soup with pork

How to make it

Peel the bitter melon, then cut into 8 cm long parts, then take all the seeds out and create a hole to stuff the meat inside. Mix the pork with garlic and pepper as well as the dried turnip and the bean threads and fill the bitter melon with it. Bring water to boil, add a cube of bouillon and the soy sauce. Add the filled bitter melon and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Add the shrimps and garnish with spring onions.

4. Beef sweet and sour soup with morning glory (Samlor Machou)

When you hear sweet and sour, you may immediately picture those two tastes together. But think about lemon juice with sugar. In Cambodia, sour and sweet go well together in the best Khmer soups like this one with beef. You can replace the meat with tofu and/or mushrooms or so called fake meat if you like.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of cooking oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 small bowl of lemongrass leaves
20 gr sliced beef
teaspoon of salt – 1 tablespoon of sugar
4 glasses of water
2 orange leaves Cut a knot about 1 inch long –
2 tablespoons ripe tamarind juice
2 spoons of fish sauce
1 bowl of fertilizer and sweet potato 4 peppers or can be put to taste
1 spoon of prahok

How to make it:

We assume you either know how to make kreung or you buy it at the market, so we will not include it in this recipe. First clean the morning glory and remove old leaves. Cut it in pieces and set aside.

Slice the beef and marinate it with the kreung paste, at least for 20 minutes. Fry the beef in oil for a few minutes, then move to a cooking pot. Add the water, some soup powder and 2/3 of the morning glory. Pound the other stems in a mortar or blend it. Let it simmer for a while, then add salt, prahok if you like, tamarind sauce and fish sauce. Finally, add the lemongrass – common in so many Khmer soups – to it. Let it simmer until it gets a dark green color.

5. Fish sour lemon soup (Sngor chrouk trei)

The word Sngor means just cooking, and while the word samlor means soup, different dishes and different names are also part of the best samlor soups in Cambodia. The last one in our list is simple, but can be found in nearly every household. One reason: not many ingredients needed, most can be collected near the house (at least at the countryside).

Ingredients

2 lbs (900 gram) of whole fresh basa, catfish or snakehead fish, cleaned and cut chunks
2 tablespoons of uncooked Jasmine rice, rinsed and drained
1 n lemon grass stalk, cut 5 inches in length and tied to bunches
4 cups of water
1/2 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
2 stalks of green onion, chopped
2 chopped hot chili pepper
1/2 cup of chopped mix herbs of sweet basil (chee korhom), and Asian coriander (chee xanghum)
1 fresh lime or lemon, sliced

How to make it

Cut the fish into cubes or thin slices. In Cambodia, fillet is rarely used, instead the fish is chopped up from head to tail. Add then fish, water, rice lemongrass, fish sauce, sugar black pepper and chili into a pot and bring to boil. Let it cook for 20 minutes – the rice should be soft. Add then the herbs and the lemon juice. Simmer for 5 more minutes and then serve with rice.

Conclusion – Khmer soups in Cambodia

Every restaurant in Cambodia offers Khmer soups. If you stay longer than two night, you should really try the variety of those dishes. Also, many regions make different versions of them. They can be eaten as a main dish – with rice on the side – or they are part or a large order of different dishes for a party of 3 or more people, as it is common in Asia when people go out for dining.

The best Cambodian sweet and sour soup in 2022

Written by André Ruys on 08/10/2022. Posted in cooking class, eat with locals, Experience Cambodia, food in Cambodia, Kambodscha, Khmer culture, Khmer food, Kochkurs, Kochkurs in Kambodscha, Uncategorized.

Since I was young, I liked the taste of sour food, from pickles to fruits and dishes. When I felt not well, I’d like to eat sour dishes – they made me somehow feel stronger and awake. The Cambodian sweet and sour soup (in Khmer called Samlor machu trey) is special, since it also contains chili. Once they kicked it, I sometimes started sweating – kind of natural body cleansing. Mostly I cooked this soup on Sundays when I was a student, when our family wanted to give my mother a break from daily house duties. Still, she handed me a list with ingredients I bought at the local market.

Soup was the first I ever cooked, I still remember– an easy one with potatoes and mushroom and carrots.

Cambodian sweet and sour soup is one of the popular dishes for Khmer

Cambodian cuisine is more diverse than some may think. If we talk about Khmer food and what people cook for daily life, we will think of one kind of Khmer soups (called Samlor). The Cambodian sweet and sour soup is one of the popular dishes, easy and fast to prepare and healthy.

People use different kinds of vegetables and fish to make it, like rice fields craps or small shrimps, to make sweet and sour soup in many types. For the simple one we can use green papaya pieces, water lily, morning glory, the core of the banana stem and winter melon. If you cook sweet and sour soup in Cambodia with kreung ( the traditional Khmer spice paste) and coconut milk, and you want to add vegetable, morning glory is a popular one to add, usually without shrimps.

We call it then samlor machu kreoung. The important ingredient that we should not miss is prahok, the infamous Khmer fermented fish paste, and sour fruit. Sour fruit could be tamarind, lime or lucidas fruit.

One of the secrets why Cambodian sweet and sour soup is so popular lies in the ingredients. They are easy to find, often just around the house. The soup is an every day dish, found regularly on many lunch tables in Khmer houses. Enjoy our virtual cooking class here!

How to make sweet and sour soup (classic style)

Ingredients for classic Cambodian sweet and sour soup

Fish
Morning glory
Garlic
Galangal
Prahok or fish sauce
Salt
Sugar
Seasoning
Tamarind / lemon/krosang fruit
Rice paddy herb or holy basil
Chili

How to cook it

Clean the fish

Clean the morning glory

Clean the fish using first water and then salt and clean morning glory, then cut into pieces. (If you are vegetarian, use fried tofu cubes instead)
Peel of garlic, slice galangal, put tamarind into a bowl, smash it an add a bit of hot water to make sour sauce.
Put prahok in a bowl of hot water and pour into the pot while the water is boiling. If prahok is to intense, use fish sauce. For a vegetarian option use mushroom sauce. Then add tamarind sauce, garlic and galangal.
After the water boiled for about 10 minutes, add fish cubes (as well as crap and small shrimps, if you want to add).
Once the fish is cooked and soft add the vegetables, salt, sugar, seasoning and a bit of fish sauce.
Lastly, put rice paddy herb or holy basil, chilly and its done.

Sweet and sour soup in Cambodia with kreung spice paste

There is no right or wrong with using kreung paste for the soup, it just gives a more intense taste.

Ingredients:

Ingredients (for 4-6 people)

fish 1kilogram
lemongrass 4 pieces
Dried chilly 3 pieces
Turmeric 1 small piece (2 cm)
Galangal 1 small piece (1.5 cm)
Kaffir lime 3 leaves
Lucidas fruit 3-4 depend on size (can be replaced with lemon)
3 long peppers
Prahok 30g
Fish sauce 1 tablespoon
•Garlic 1 glove
Seasoning 1teaspoon
Salt 1/2 tablespoon
Sugar palm 1/2 tablespoon

Steps to make it:

Clean fish with salt and cut to pieces.
Slice lemon grass, garlic, turmeric galangal add a bit of salt and punch until smooth.
Squeeze a lucida fruit into a bowl, add minced prohok, slice pepper into small pieces.
Mince and soak dried chilli .
Mix fish, kreoung, prahok, squeezed lucidas fruit or lemon, palm sugar, fish sauce and seasoning into a pot add a bit of water stir gently.
Start heating on medium heat, keep boiling for 5 mins then add 1/4 cup of water
Simmer until fish is cooked.
Add kraffir lime leaves to taste
Lastly add slices of peppers.

In Cambodia, a soup is usually served with rice. Some families will also add some herbs and fresh vegetables, whatever is handy. If you are invited or visit one of our hosts, you would pour the soup in a bowl, then get a small plate with rice. You can pour soup over the rice or just eat both separately.

Author: Mealea Kong

How to make Kreung, the best Khmer spice paste in 2022

Written by André Ruys on 08/06/2022. Posted in cooking class, eat with locals, Food adventure, food in Cambodia, Kambodscha, Khmer food, Kochkurs, Kochkurs in Kambodscha, Online-Experience.

It is one of the most important ingredients in Cambodian cuisine, used in stir fried dishes as well as soups or when meat is marinated. If you want to know how to make Kreung we can assure you: it’s quite easy and you should get all ingredients in supermarkets, asia markets or even in your garden.

Kreung is a main ingredient in fish amok, but also used in many soups like samlor korko. Another dish are stir fried vegetables with any kind of meat or tofu, where Kreung is then added.

Despite what the name suggests the spice paste is not spicy. There isn’t even chilli used when you learn how to make Kreung. It’s is related to the use of different herbs and spices. Kreung can be bought at the market – many Cambodians buy it there for daily use – but its much more intense in taste pleasing your palates when you make it from scratch.

Remove the ribs from the kaffir lime leaves

You can use a mortar or a food processor

How to make Kreung in a mortar

The traditional way of producing Kreung is in a classic mortar. It can be made of stone or wood – the result will be the same. You also need a good knife and a chopping board – in Cambodia is a wooden board in every household used for this task.

Ingredients for Kreung (sometimes also called Royal Kreung)

3 stalks lemongrass
1 ounce galangal
4 kaffir lime leaves
8 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1 ounce turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt

First you need to cut the lemongrass into fine slices. Remove the middle rib from the kaffir lime leave. Only use the white and bright green part of the stalks. Then peel and slice galangal, garlic and ginge as thin as possible. For turmeric you can use either the root or just a teaspoon of power.

Then place lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaves in the mortar and start grinding. You can go in circles to ensure that the oil is released from the broken cells. Add the other ingredients and grind until it becomes a thick paste.

Make Kreung in a food processor

If you don’t have a mortar, you can use a food processor or a blender. You still need to cut the ingredients but it doesn’t have to be that fine. The best way how to make Kreung in a food processor is to start again with the hard parts and then add the other ingredients. Don’t use the highest setting.

Red and green Kreung

There are variants of Kreung, and the difference lies in some other ingredients. The green Kreung uses more lemongrass and less – or not at all – tumeric. For the red Kreung you replace the tumeric with chilli. use fresh chilies to get a bright color and a well developed flavor.

How to make Kreung while in Cambodia

If you want to learn how to make Kreung while traveling in Cambodia, you should visit our host Ms. Laum. She will show you how Kreung is used as an ingredient in the famous dish fish amok. You can book the cooking class in Siem Reap with her here.

Frogs in Cambodia: Not just great street food

Written by André Ruys on 07/09/2022. Posted in cooking class, eat with locals, food in Cambodia, Kambodscha, Siem Reap, Siem Reap Höhepunkte.

When you live a bit outside downtown, you will hear the sounds of frogs in the evening after the rain. and you will see some men with a headlight and a stick: They are hunting. The lights usually keeps frogs to freeze and the hunters pick them up and put them in a bucket. Frogs in Cambodia are a delicacy, and in the countryside moist people go out and hunt them.

Skinned: Frogs in Cambodia at the markets

The taste for frogs is not related to the French occupiers, who famously prefer the legs of the amphibians. In Cambodia, frogs are eaten since centuries. You can even find some stone carvings in Angkor Wat featuring frogs. It is said that frogs in Cambodia are present since before the Angkor period, however there are no documents left.

While hinting is an original way to supply the family with some proteins. frogs are gibt business. There are frog farmers all around the country, making a living from raising and selling them to markets. Around 700 of them got nearly 500.000 US-Dollar recently from the government to help them surviving during the Covid-19 pandemie. On the local markets, frogs are sold either alive or already skinned.

How to eat frog in Cambodia

if your are a traveler in Cambodia, best way to eat frog is as a street food or in a restaurant. Many street food places like along the river in Siem Reap or on road 60 in the evening will grill frogs over charcoal. The easiest way is to just skin them and then takes intestines out. Then its grilled until nearly charred. Some take the head of, some not.

Stuffed frog

Another popular dish is stuffed frog. The inside of a frog is filled with pork and spices. You need to create the famous spice paste kreung for this recipe of frog n Cambodia. If you want to learn the make the paste while in Cambodia, some of our hosts will teach you!

The fresh kreung paste ist then mixed with minced pork. It is common in Cambodia to mince pork with a cleaver on a wooden chopping pork rather then buying it from the market – for freshness reasons. The frogs you use are usually without heads.

Battered frogs

A bit more efforts takes a delicious version of frogs in cambodia: Battered and deep fried. You just need to buy skinned frogs at the market, create a batter with baking powder, flour and water. Dip the frogs in the batter and deep fry them. As a sauce you crush small green chilli and garlic in a mortar until you have a paste and mi this with palm sugar.

How does frogs in Cambodia taste like?

Frog meat tastes a bit like chicken meat. Since frogs are significantly smaller, you may order a full plate of fried or grilled frogs when in a restaurant. You just eat the whole animal, with carefully taking bones out like you would do it with fish bones. At Cambodian parties, fried frogs are served as a snack, sometimes with fried insects or even spiders.

At our host families we usually don’t offer frog, since demand is not much for it from traveller s. However, if you are keen to try frog in Cambodia, please get in contact with us and we can talk to the hosts families if they can prepare it for you – you will also learn how to do it. The frogs will then bought at the market.

How to make the best Khmer Curry (Samlor curry)

Written by André Ruys on 06/23/2022. Posted in cooking class, eat with locals, food in Cambodia, Khmer culture, Khmer food, Uncategorized.

When we talk about food in Asia, Khmer curry (Samlor curry) as well as Thai and Indian curry is one of the first dishes that comes into our minds. The Khmer empire ruled once over large parts of what is today south-east Asia. As you can still see at the ancient site of Angkor Wat (which was built as a Hindu temple first), the culture was influenced by the Hindu religion and Indian food. One dish that remembers one of the culinary roots is Khmer curry. It combines spices brought from priests and business people to the kingdom with local ingredients.

Khmer Curry: Home made — Khmer Curry: Homemade

Cambodian food – as you will see in our cooking classes at Dine With The Locals – has two major ingredients special to the country: Kreung, a spice paste, and prahok, fermented fish. But are part of a long tradition of food in Cambodia. Prahok was used not only to give the food a certain taste. It was a way to store protein – from fish – in areas where there was drought or not much access to rivers and lakes. The Khmer curry combines all of them into a mild dish, found nearly everywhere in the country.

Khmer curry is not spicy

Other than Thai curries, the Khmer curry is not spicy at all. The reason: When Khmer food was developed during the Jayavarman period, chili was not yet known in the region. It came later from South-America. Cambodian food is usually more sweet, because palm sugar is a main ingredient. Other spices used are lemon grass, galangal, ginger and other roots.

Ingredients for an authentic Khmer curry

1/2 Chicken
2 big cubes of blood curd
1.5 cup coconut milk
Kreuong paste (make it yourself or buy a at the market)
Fresh chilli, soaked in water
1 Onion
1 Sweet potato
3 tbs red curry powder
1 tspPrahok
1 tbp Palm sugar
Fish sauce to taste
1 cup water
Oil

Vegetarian Khmer curry

6 small cubes tofu
1.5 cup coconut milk
Kreuong paste (make it yourself or buy at the market)
Fresh chilli, soaked in water
1 Onion
1 Sweet potato
3 tbs red curry powder
1 tbp Palm sugar
Mushroom saucee
Oil

How to make a delicious Khmer curry

As with the more yellow Indian curry powder the red Khmer curry powder is rarely made fresh anymore. Most people buy it at the market. The main ingredients are Chili Powder, Turmeric, Black Pepper, Star Anise, Fennel Seed, Fenugreek Seed, Coriander and Cumin, although some may change the list a bit. Most important is that only a bit of chili is used – it should not be too spicy.

Clean the chicken and blood curd (slice the chicken if you want)
Cut the sweet potato in slices, as well as the onion
Heat the oil
Add chilli paste first, then prahok
Add kreung paste
Stir until fragant
Stir in palm sugar, let it melt
Add seasoning and fish sauce
now add either chicken and bloog curd or tofu.
Stir and add water
Heat up until the water starts boiling
Simmer for 5 minutes
Add cocount milk
Heat it up then add onion and sweet potato
Let it simmer until potato is soft
Serve with rice, rice noodles or bread

How to cook fish amok at home

Written by André Ruys on 06/07/2022. Posted in cooking class, eat with locals, food in Cambodia, Kambodscha, Khmer culture, Kochkurs in Kambodscha, Uncategorized.

One of the most famous dishes in Cambodia is fish amok. It’s a kind of curry, but with a very local twist when it comes to spices used in it. Many restaurants offer it, at Cambodian homes it is mostly cooked vor special occasions. If you want to know how to cook fish amok at home, just follow our guide. We got the advise from our host Ms. Laum, who cooks on of the best fish amok in Siem Reap.

What do you need for fish amok?

The dish is made from fish, species and coconut milk. It dates back to the times of the Khmer empire, and recipes have changed over time. For fish you can use freshwater fish, from tilapia to any carps or catfish. Best get a fillet at the market. The secret ingredient of fish amok is the Cambodian fish paste know as kreung. It contains lemongrass, galangal, tumeric, kaffir lime and garlic. Depending on your taste you can add any amount of chili to it.

In Cambodia people will nut fresh coconut milk at the market, but a canned one will do it as well. Also, the original recipe requires no i tree leaves. They can be replaced with kaffir lime leaves.

Steaming or cooking?

There are two main ways of cooking fish amok. Or host Ms. Laum told people when asked how to cook fish amok at home that you can use a steamer or a pot. She herself steamed it for a while but now changed to just simmer it. The taste is basically the same, steamed fish amok is sometimes a bit more solid, in particular when egg was added.

Ingredients:

100g noni leaves or kaffier lime leaves
– 1 kg Cat/River fish
– 1 Teaspoon fish paste
– 2 Teaspoon salt
– 200g Kroeung paste
– 1Teaspoon palm/white sugar
– 300ml coconut milk.

If you want to make kreung by yourself, just combine finely sliceed lemongrass, ginger finger root, turmeric, kaffir lime slices (small and thin pieces) add some peeled garlic. Put them in a blender or mortar and blend until its a fine paste. You can also buy kreung at the market.

How to cook fish amok at home in 45 minutes

Preparation:

1. Salt the fish and cut into cubes

2. Slice noni or kaffir lime leaves in fine stripes

3. Mix kreung paste with sliced chilli.

4. Add fish paste (fermented fish, in Cambodia known as prahok) and mix together.

5. add coconut milk and mix well.

6. The add the dish and mix again.

7. Transfer it to a pot. You may want to add brown or palm sugar and fish sauce.

8. Heat up with the lit closed unti it boils. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes. If you have noni tree leaves, you can put some pieces on top.

9. Serve with rice.

Even Cambodians learn again how to make fish amok at home

Since most ingredients, in particular kreung paste is nowadays available already mixed at markets, fish amok gets slowly back to the dining tables of Cambodians. Modern middle class families don’t have the time to squeeze coconut flesh in order to get the milk out of it. They just buy as much ingredients as they can an the market or supermarket. Some don’t even know how to make fish amok with a steamerwith a steamer at home any more – so they found a simpler way to cook it for the family.

If you want to make it while in Siem Reap, book this experience with Ms. Laum here. She will take you to all the steps and you have to work a bit before getting a yummy dinner in a local home in Cambodia.

Durian fruits at a vendors cart in Siem Reap

How to eat durian in Cambodia

Written by André Ruys on 05/31/2022. Posted in cooking class, eat with locals, Food adventure, food in Cambodia, Kambodscha, Khmer culture, Siem Reap, Uncategorized.

Durian, also know as stinky fruit or The King of fruits, is an eatable fruit of a certain species of tree in Asia. It’s famous for the strong odor, but also for it delicious creamy texture. In Cambodia you can buy durian at most local markets as well as from street vendors. Durian is usually farmed in Kampot, Kampng Cham and around Battambang. Many fruits are imported from Thailand and Vietnam as well.

Durian is different from jackfruit. The latter is a much bigger fruit with smaller spikes and a different, more sweeter taste. The prices depend on the season and quality. You can get them starting from 13.000 riel per kg (about $3.50) all the way up to 20.000 riel ($5). Most stalls have a fix price, although there is a small margin for bargaining.

Where to buy durian in Siem Reap?

Most people will direct you to the roundabout on Apsara road near the Sokha hotel. Many vendors have their cars lined up on the street. Most markets have stalls as well – just follow the smell. And that’s why supermarkets rarely sell it.

Can I take durian back to my hotel?

The simple answer is no. Hotels will not allow even locals to bring durian inside the premise or rooms. It’s also banned in buses and planes.

Where to eat it?

It is common to eat durian in the tuktuk on the way to Angkor Wat or other places to visit in Siem Reap. Cambodians know how to picknick, so they will just stop somewhere, sit in the shadow of a tree and enjoy durian and other fruits and food they bought on the way.

How to eat durian?

When you buy it on the street, ask the seller to open the fruit and take the eatable pieces out. They usually give you a box for it. Some sell the inner parts of the flesh (normally for a higher price). In the markets you may see them selling durian with sticky rice and coconut milk. There is also ice cream made from durian and dried durian chips.

When eating you may use plastic gloves of a fork. Once you have contact with your skin, the smell may stay for a while, even after washing your hands. Also be aware of the seed inside – it cannot be eaten raw. But you can bake them until soft.

The outside skin (the one with the spikes) can be used as traditional local medicine. They say it helps for the pain during a women’s period. The skin is dried and then boiled with water.

Learn how to throw a Cambodian fishing net

We are back: Enjoy food adventures with locals families in Cambodia

Written by André Ruys on 05/20/2022. Posted in cooking class, eat with locals, Experience Cambodia, food in Cambodia, Kambodscha, Khmer culture, Khmer food, Siem Reap.

We had rough two years, but now we are back. Dine With The Locals will continue to connect travelers with local families in Cambodia (and in two cities in Vietnam) and provide great food adventures. We are finishing our process to update our lists of host and started to onboard new hosts.

Our food adventures are more than a cooking class

Say hello to Ms. Sokvy, who lives in the outskirts of Siem Reap, next to rice fields, with her husband and her kids. While Mr. Chantry is buy as a driver (he will pick you up and bring you back when you book with us), she is taking care of the house. We visited her recently and consulted the family regarding food and activity selection. Expect one of the best dishes in Cambodia, Tek Kreung, and lean how to make this thick soup (some call it a paste) made of pea eggplants and river fish.

You will also learn how locals go fishing (no animals harmed during this experience): Mr. Chantry will show you how to throw a fishing net. It is traditionally used for fishing in ponds, but also in shallow waters like the Tonlesap lake (Asias biggest lake).

Good bye to some great hosts

We had some amazing hosts during the last three years, providing authentic food adventures and great experiences. It’s no surprise, that some changed location and work during the pandemic. First of all, all of the host families survived the crises and are doing good. But some found new jobs, moved to Phnom Penh or other cities.

One hosts made a remarkable progress: Ms Hong Ginlai, who runs a food stall in Siem Reap. When we started with her, guests could prepare street food in the morning in a made shift stall. She later had to move – what turned out to be a great opportunity. She told us, that she has to pause now taking guests for food adventures because she is too busy. We could not be more happy to see her being so successfull. Watch our video and see what you have missed.

Finding more food adventures in Cambodia

After we have updated our current list of hosts we will find more soon. Ms. Sokvy is just the first. We are looking for more families in Battambang and in and around Phnom Peng now. To be a host at Dine With The Locals, a family needs to provide a menu with three local dishes as well as a interesting experience beside cooking with guests.

Ms. Kaum provides an amazing food adventure in Siem Reap

And one more thing: You may hav noticed that we had to increase our prices. This is due rising costs for food in Cambodia, but also for our operations. Host get the biggest share of what you pay, because our main goal is to eatable women to earn money in their home and provide a great food adventure for foreign guests.

Cambodian crispy rice with pork floss

Written by André Ruys on 09/28/2021. Posted in cooking class, eat in Siem Reap, eat with locals, Experience Cambodia, food in Cambodia, Khmer culture, Khmer food, News and Updates, Online-Experience, Siem Reap.

Rice is something like the staple food in Cambodia. It is served at every meal. Most people eat regular cooked rice, but there are also variations, for example in delicious desserts. Another specialty is pot-fried Cambodian crispy rice with pork floss. Pork floss is soft, dried meat fibers from the pig. You find this dish on special occasions, but a restaurant in Siem Reap specializes only in it. It is not cheap: a large portion costs 10 dollars. Our host Vorleak researched a bit for you and made a step-by-step instruction how to cook Cambodia crispy rice at home.

How to cook Cambodian crispy rice with Pork Floss

First of all, you take normal rice and wash it three times. Then you pour it into a pot with a thin bottom. Take so much rice that it covers about one centimeter of the bottom. Then add water and boil the rice for about 20 minutes. The rice must become very soft. A gas stove or open fire is best.

When it is done cooking, take a wooden spoon and start spreading the rice from the center to the edge of the pot. It should form a rim about five centimeters high, but the rice must still cover the bottom. Spread everything smoothly.

Now put the pot back on the stove and let the rice bake. First on the bottom, then you have to take the pot in your hand and hold the edges over the flame. Be careful not to burn yourself. It would be best if you kept swirling the pot until the rice has darkened and is clearly browned on the pot (but it shouldn’t burn).

Let the Cambodian crispy rice burn a bit

Meanwhile, crack two eggs and whisk them with salt, pepper and chili powder or homemade chili sauce to taste. Cut spring onions into small pieces.

Heat about 150 ml of oil. When it’s hot, carefully pour it into the rice pot (turn the flame back on) and swirl the pot so the oil gets everywhere. You need to keep doing this until the rice looks crispy. Then pour off the rest of the oil.

Now take the eggs and pour them over the bottom of the crispy rice. Spread them evenly and let the mixture fry briefly until the egg has set. Now let the pot cool down a bit. Hold the bottom of the rice with a wooden spoon, tip the pot over and carefully catch the rice.

Poor eggs and onions on the rice and let it get solid.

Place it on a plate and sprinkle with Pork Floss.

Take the Cambodian crispy rice carefully out of the pot

You need these ingredients

200 gr rice
2 eggs
200 ml cooking oil
salt
pepper
chili powder
2 bunches spring onion
4 tbs porkfloss

What to expect when you visit Dine With The Locals

Written by André Ruys on 01/09/2020. Posted in cooking class, eat with locals, food in Cambodia, Khmer culture, Siem Reap.

We are often asked what distinguishes our offer from the many cooking courses and food tours that are available in Siem Reap, Battambang and Phnom Penh. Dine With The Locals focuses on people. We want to bring travellers and locals together, would like to help each other to get to know and exchange ideas. Cooking and eating together is an excellent opportunity to learn about local culture and customs.

What do you get?

You can choose between many families in Cambodia (and even Vietnam) on our platform. All families have been personally selected and visited by us. Each family has put together its own menu and offers you more than just standing together at the stove. We have Apasara dancers, painters, modern art, cultural ambassadors and organic farmers. You can learn how to make small fish toys from the leaves of coconut palms and how to make a perfect table decoration from a banana leaf.

Who are the families?

Ms Laum makes Nom Pom, the Khmer coconut waffles, in Sem Reap

Our mission is to provide Cambodian families, especially women, with additional income. But we don’t look at how poor a family is. More importantly, can they offer you a great experience and have fun getting to know people. We have families who live on very little money and some who belong to the lower middle class. Mostly it is women who are our hosts. We want to support them because they often have no opportunity to earn money (or cannot earn enough).

How does it work?

After booking, you will receive a ticket from us with a description of where the family lives. We want to protect families and therefore do not put this information online. It’s best to take a tuk tuk to get to the house. Depending on the family, you will get a small tour, mostly through the garden and can see the house. Ask as many questions as you like, our hosts are proud to explain the customs of Cambodian (or Vietnamese) culture. Then it goes into the kitchen. The family has already done some shopping, unlike traditional cooking classes, you don’t have to go to the market. You won’t have to listen to a teacher either, but cook with the hosts. For example, they show you how to make the famous Kreung paste in a mortar, which can be found in many Cambodian dishes.

Eating together with locals

Eat together after the cooking class in Siem Reap

In order to live up to our name, we naturally eat together. In Asia, all dishes are usually served at the same time and you first have a portion of rice on your plate. Ask your hosts if you are unsure about how to eat a dish or whether to take your hands. In some families, you sit on the floor or on a small pedestal. You usually take off your shoes and sit cross-legged (or whatever is comfortable for you). You can also get a small stool if you want.

How clean is it with the hosts?

We are often asked whether it is clean in the families’ houses. The answer is very clear: yes. You visit simple housings, but families place great value on cleanliness. Incidentally, this also applies to the food. All ingredients are bought fresh (that’s why we have to know a day in advance when you want to come), washed several times (which will also be your job at these cooking classes in Cambodia) and cooked long enough. The water you are offered to drink has been filtered and prepared, the tea has been brewed with boiling water.

Book now your cooking class experience!

Authentic cooking class in Siem Reap

Written by André Ruys on 12/26/2019. Posted in cooking class, eat in Siem Reap, eat with locals, Environment, food in Cambodia, Khmer culture, Siem Reap.

A cooking class in Siem Reap is a unique experience if you want to get to know the local cuisine. If you’re in a country like Cambodia, cooking can help you get to know the country’s culture much better. You will also learn more about the special features of Cambodian cuisine and its dishes.

Our cooking classes are slightly different from those offered by restaurants and hotels. We want to offer you an authentic experience and that’s why our focus is on homemade food that is prepared together with a family. You learn above all how to cook here at home a delicious Cambodian meal.

Learn how to make Kreung paste in our cooking class in Siem Reap

We want to bring people together with our cooking classes in Siem Reap, which is why we have hosts all over Cambodia. In Siem Reap you can cook with a former Apsara dancer and prepare a cozy dinner in the forest near Angkor Wat.

At our cooking classes in Siem Reap you will learn how to traditionally cook a meal in a Cambodian family.

Book now your cooking class experience!

Course of the cooking course in Siem Reap:

1. On arrival at the Cambodian house, the family introduces itself to you. In most families, at least one member speaks English and will explain what to expect. You can come for lunch or dinner.

2. After the greeting you will be shown the house and usually also the garden. For some families, you can even help pick or pick the herbs and vegetables yourself. You can also learn how to breed chickens, see crocodiles or later make small souvenirs.

3. Then it goes into the kitchen for the cooking experience. Each family has selected three dishes that they want to prepare with you in the Siem Reap cooking class. In most cases there is chicken and pork or fish, but we also have two families who can prepare a vegetarian meal on request.

Many famous Cambodian dishes

4. Cooking with locals in Siem Reap: you learn how to cook on a charcoal fire, how to stir food in an Asian wok, in which order the ingredients are added to the meal. Of course you can always ask questions about authentic Khmer food, our hosts will answer the best possible.
Some dishes are:

5. Eating together

After cooking, of course, they eat together. We wrote a small article on customs in a Cambodian household that tells you more about how to behave properly. In Cambodia, the food is either brought to the table all at once or as it is being prepared. The rice is on an extra plate. There are rarely knives, but if you want one your host will be happy to give it to you. Our course includes drinking water or tea, some hosts also like to sell you a Coca Cola or beer.

6. Other activities
A cooking class alone can bring you closer to culture. However, we would like to help you create more memories. Our hosts can teach you the essential steps in the Apsara dance, you can make a souvenir together or bake Cambodian waffles.

The authentic cooking class in Siem Reap takes about 2 hours. Transport is not included, but it is easy to get a tuktuk in Siem Reap.

What do you need to know when attending a cooking class in Siem Reap

Be open to new things. A kitchen in Cambodia is often outside the home. The process is a little different than you may be used to.
Spray yourself with mosquito spray
You are welcome to tip the hosts later.
Our families are also happy about children
Our cooking classes in Siem Reap are well suited for women who travel alone

How to use the Noni tree and fruit

Written by André Ruys on 12/20/2019. Posted in eat with locals, Experience Cambodia, food in Cambodia, Khmer culture, Khmer food.

The Noni tree (its scientific name is Morinda Citrifolia) is well know in Cambodia, but also all arround the world. Every culture has it’s own word for the green plant with the big green leaves. In Cambodia you can find two species: one grows forest and one grows around the villages. You can eat only the fruits from the domesticated species.

The fruit of the Noni tree

In the Cambodian culture the noni tree has many uses. You can use it as a traditional medicine, food or juice, also you can also use it as a cosmetic. The Noni tree fruit has green colour when it still young, then becomes yellow and at the end white when it is ripe. When the fruit riped it has a strong unpleasend smell.

Dried fruits are often grinded into a powder. Khmer people presse the seeds to extract oil from it. The latter is a complicated process and in many villages kept as a secrets between the elder.

In Cambodia we use the noni fruit as a traditional medicine and fr the famous Cambodian food called AmokFood in Cambodia: All you need to know. Khmer people believe that noni fruit helps a lot for health and protect from some illness. They like to use it for beauty as well. In the past Khmer people made a traditional medicine from noni tree, especially in the countryside.

Do you want to make Noni tree medicine?

Ok , then let me tell you how it made.

First you need some middle aged but nut yet ripe noni tree fruits. Clean them with water and keep keep the in the house to ripe a bit more. Then you need some sugar or honey ( the amount of sugar or honey depends on how many noni fruit you use). Put sugar or honey with noni fruit to make sure it mixes together well. Then put it in a jar and keep it sealed for 18 days to 20 days.

How to use Noni tree fruit drink medicine:

Drink a little amount before meals 3 to 4 times per day. As a traditional medicine it can help against aging and scars of acne. It is NOT recommended for pregnant women, people with kidney and liver problems. Some people will get a bad smell in their breath from eat.

How to use Noni for Amok

Fish Amok ist one of the most popular dishes in Cambodia. Pieces of fresh fish are mixes together with Kreung paste and coconut as well as chilli. But to make it special, you need noni tree leaves. Cut those which are full green (not dark, not bright) from a tree an wash them. Once you made the fish amok and it is in the steaming dish, cut the leaves into stripes and place it over the fish mix. Steam it for 20-30 minutes. You can see a video how to make fish Amok at our host Ms. Laum here.

If you want to make Amok by yourself, book our experience at Ms. Laum in Siem Reap.

Book now your cooking class experience!