Dish

Num Banh Chok

នំបញ្ចុក

Cambodian rice noodles served with a fish-based kroeung gravy, herbs and raw vegetables.

Num Banh Chok (នំបញ្ចុក) is a Cambodian dish of fresh rice noodles in a fish-based curry or gravy, with herbs, foraged leaves, edible flowers and vegetables.[1] The name covers both the fresh noodles and the dish made with them, which is known in English as Khmer noodles.[1]

Cultural context

Num banh chok is traditionally eaten for breakfast, and sometimes for lunch.[2][3] Its essential ingredients include rice, prahok, fish, coconut milk, palm sugar and kroeung.[1] It is also eaten as an afternoon snack.[4] The dish is found in villages in every province of Cambodia, and many villages and provinces have their own version.[5] Asean News Today calls it part of Cambodia's national identity and writes that most Khmer eat it many times a week.[6] Angkor Chef writes that the dish has been eaten with pride for centuries.[7]

Families of noodle makers throughout Cambodia still make the fresh noodles by hand every day.[1] The dish is sold at market stalls in Siem Reap, by mobile street vendors and at simple local eateries.[1] In Phnom Penh, women sell bowls of it in the morning and early afternoon from baskets hung on shoulder poles. It is also sold at Psar Kandal and Psar Thmei.[4] A red fish curry version, num banh chok nam ya, is served at engagements and weddings and can also be found at the Russian Market.[4] A village in the countryside near Siem Reap is known for making the noodles, and visitors can watch them being made.[8] At Park Hyatt Siem Reap, it is served in a refined hotel style in the Living Room.[9]

Asia Society Korea named it the favorite food of Chring Botum Rangsay, Cambodia's ambassador to South Korea.[10] In 2022, the Royal Embassy of Cambodia showed num banh chok in Paris as one of five Cambodian dishes at the International Gastronomy Village. A minister said the dishes were very popular with visitors.[11]

On April 26, 2023, the Commerce Ministry's Department of Intellectual Property began registering rice noodles from Preah Dak commune in Banteay Srei district as a collective trademark named "Num Banh Chok Siem Reap". Battambang creamy coconut and Pursat oranges were registered at the same time.[12] Suon Vichea, the ministry's director-general for intellectual property rights, called the noodles an ancestral product and national heritage, and said Prime Minister Hun Sen sees the dish as a symbol of cultural unity. A book of specifications on the production formula and hygiene is to be set for the trademark.[12] The first meeting of Siem Reap noodle producers and traders was held in Preah Dak commune and elected an executive committee.[12] The noodle recipe also appears in The Taste of ANGKOR, a cookbook released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[12]

Ingredients and preparation

The noodles are topped with a fish-based green curry gravy of lemongrass, fingerroot, turmeric and garlic.[13] Asia Society Korea gives the core of the dish as fresh handmade rice noodles and a fish-based green curry with lemongrass, ginger, turmeric and garlic.[10] Most gravies are yellow-green and built on yellow or green Kroeung.[1] Cambodians usually use freshwater fish from lakes and rivers, especially snakehead, pounded together with the kroeung.[1] Angkor Chef's broth uses prahok, lemongrass, fingerroot, twice-cooked freshwater fish made into a paste, and coconut milk. Extra lemongrass leaf turns the broth green, while more turmeric gives the restaurant's yellowish-green color.[7] Cambodian recipes generally leave out chili except as a condiment at the table.[1] Grantourismo writes that most styles are eaten at room temperature,[2] while Cambodgemag and Hello Angkor write that the dish is served cold.[5][14]

The noodles come with fresh herbs, raw vegetables and green fruit.[5] Common choices include cucumber, bean sprouts, banana blossom, long beans, water lily stems, chilies, basil and mint.[6] Angkor Chef adds shredded green papaya, which is available all year.[7] Diners choose herbs, foraged leaves, edible flowers and seasonal vegetables from a basket or spread at the table.[1] Angkor Chef garnishes the dish with wild bean flowers (Sesbania javanica), called pkah snaow in Khmer. The chef writes that these wild flowers kept people alive during the starvation of the Khmer Rouge years.[7]

In one traditional method, rice soaked for two to four hours is ground into a runny paste. The paste is pressed into domes and dried inside calico bags, pounded into a fine powder, and then made into a thick paste.[6] This paste is squeezed through a perforated tin can into boiling water, cooked for three to four minutes and moved to cold water.[15][6]

In the rural method, boiled rice is ground into dough on a heavy stone mill. One person turns the mill by hand while another adds rice every three or four turns.[9] The dough is compressed and left to drain, and it sets into a firm mass about the size of a pumpkin.[9] It is boiled for about half an hour, softened further in a leg-powered mortar and pestle, and pressed through a metal container into water. The thin noodles are then separated into single servings on banana leaves.[9]

Some Cambodians use factory-made noodles.[9] Because of market demand, much of the num banh chok eaten each day in Cambodia is made in factories. Traditionally made noodles, with no preservatives, remain popular, and making them is a skill passed down from one generation to the next.[6]

History and origins

In a popular Khmer folk legend, the scholar Thun Chey was sent away from the Khmer Empire to China by the Khmer king and made a living there selling num banh chok. The emperor asked Thun Chey to bring the noodles to the palace. Thun Chey said that the emperor looked like a dog and the Khmer king like the moon, and he was thrown into prison. He managed to be released and was sent back to the Khmer Empire.[4] Asean News Today makes Thun Chey a third-century peasant. In its account, rice noodles began in Cambodia and Thun Chey brought them to China.[6] Move to Cambodia writes that the king feared his power and popularity, and that many Cambodians say China got the idea for noodles from num banh chok.[4] The Phnom Penh Post notes that the dish has long been part of Khmer folklore.[8]

Before the war, Phnom Penh's most famous num banh chok came from a small town 15 kilometers (about 9 miles) outside the city. Narin Jameson wrote in Cooking the Cambodian Way that it used fish from the Kampong Kantuot River and that the sellers made their own noodles with vegetables from their gardens. In the 1950s, transportation to Phnom Penh was their only cost.[4] Elders remember Kampong Cham province as the place that once made the best num banh chok, and it is said that the Mekong fish there had a particularly fine flavor.[5]

The royal version, num banh chok samlor makod (rice noodles with crown sauce), contains chicken livers, Cognac and green peas. It appeared in Princess Rasmi Sobhana's The Cambodian Cookbook, published by the American Women's Club of Cambodia in 1965.[15][4] Nusara Thaitawat's The Cuisine of Cambodia cites the same recipe.[4]

Regional and household variations

A white bowl of rice noodles in red curry topped with chicken, carrot, crisp vegetables and herbs, on a patterned cloth.
Num banh chok with samlar kari, the red curry broth, 2021. Photo: Turaids, CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Num banh chok samlor proher (សម្លរប្រហើរនំបញ្ចុក) uses yellow or yellow-green kroeung of lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and zest, garlic, turmeric and fingerroot, with freshwater fish (usually snakehead), prahok and coconut milk or cream.[2] Samlor means both soup and stew, and proher means fragrant. It can be a light noodle soup or a thicker, filling fish gravy.[1]
  • Num banh chok Siem Reap (នំបញ្ចុកសៀមរាប) has the same ingredients but can be thinner when it is made with fish stock and no coconut milk. Some recipes use fish sauce in place of prahok, but some argue that without prahok it is not the Siem Reap dish.[2] Asia Society Korea writes that the Siem Reap style uses more garlic and a sweeter fish sauce.[10] Move to Cambodia gives more garlic and coconut milk, with a sweet sauce called tik pha em.[4] CNN calls the sauce tuk paem and writes that it is made from palm sugar and peanuts.[13]
  • Num banh chok samlor Khmer (នំបញ្ចុកសម្លខ្មែរ) has a green broth of green kroeung, with lemongrass leaves, and pounded fish, either a thin fish stock or a thicker broth with coconut milk. Authentic versions come with a peanut relish.[2] Move to Cambodia gives samlar Khmer as the simplest version, with cool fish gravy, raw vegetables and fresh herbs.[4]
  • Num banh chok samlor teuk trei phaem uses coconut milk or cream and a sour-sweet pahem sauce that may hold fish sauce, smoked fish, grated coconut, ground peanuts and tamarind juice.[2]
  • Num banh chok samlor namya (នំបញ្ចុកសម្លណាំយ៉ា), also called num banh chok ktis trei, uses red kroeung, coconut milk and fish, often with shrimp paste and fish sauce.[2]
  • Num banh chok samlor cari (នំបញ្ចុកសម្លការី) uses red kroeung with meat such as chicken or beef instead of fish, sometimes with offal and blood cake, plus carrots, potatoes and onions.[2] Hello Angkor writes that its curry base is the same as samlar kari and may be yellow turmeric or red chili.[14] Asean News Today gives somlor kari as salty, sweet, spicy and sour.[6] Move to Cambodia also lists a curry chicken sauce with shrimp paste and yams.[4]
  • Num banh chok Kampot uses peanuts, dried shrimp, Kampot fish sauce made from sea fish, and some vendors add sliced fish cakes. Unlike the other versions, it is typically eaten cold.[2] Asia Society Korea lists dried shrimp, coconut cream and fish sauce.[10] Move to Cambodia adds that the dried shrimp are sweet and local.[4]
  • A Vietnamese-style version has a crab and tomato soup base and may include congealed pig's blood, bean sprouts, herbs and vegetables.[14]

Asean News Today writes that the noodles are also commonly served in soup with beef, pork, chicken or seafood.[6] Pizza 4P's, an eatery in Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City, makes a num banh chok pizza with yellow kroeung, coconut milk, prahok, freshwater fish, cheese and peanuts, topped with water celery, basil, water mimosa, banana blossoms, water hyacinths and sesbania flowers.[16][17] The Asia Society Korea recipe, made in South Korea, uses monkfish and packaged bun noodles.[10]

Preparations and recipes

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Grantourismo Travels, Nom Banh Chok Recipe for Cambodia's Beloved Khmer Noodles (2021-02-08)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Grantourismo Travels, Lara Dunston, Nom Banh Chok, The Fermented Rice Noodle Dish That Is Cambodia in a Bowl (undated)
  3. ↑ Malis, Num Banh-Chok Malis (undated)
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 Move to Cambodia, Khmer noodles: The story of num banh chok (2013-03-05)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Cambodgemag, Pride in Cambodia's Num Banh Chok Noodles (2026-03-02)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Asean News Today, Num Banh Chok: More Than Just Rice Noodles to Khmer (2017-11-05)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Angkor Chef, Nom Banh Chok (2024-10-17)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Phnom Penh Post, Siem Reap foodie forays give tourists taste of Cambodia (2025-02-09)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Remote Lands, Siem Reap: Making Num Banh Chok with Park Hyatt's Executive Chef
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Asia Society Korea, Khmer Noodles in Korea: A Recipe for Num Banh Chok
  11. ↑ Kiripost, Cambodia's Efforts for Globalising Cambodian Cuisine (2024-09-17)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Cambodianess, Num Banh Chok Siem Reap Wins Trademark Recognition
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 CNN Travel, 30 Cambodian foods every visitor needs to try (2019-12-10)
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Hello Angkor, An Uncommon Guide to Cambodian Cuisine (2019-08-15)
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Wikipedia: Num banhchok
  16. ↑ Asia News Network, from The Phnom Penh Post, Num banh chok pizza a new fusion hit in Cambodia (undated)
  17. ↑ Pizza 4P's, Original pizza in collaboration with Khmer cuisine (May 25, 2022)
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This page was last edited on 9 October 2026, at 03:34.