Cambodian Sour Soup

Cambodian Sour Soup, or Khmer sour soup is an extremely popular sour soup that you will find sold throughout Cambodia.

Despite being in the street meat epicenter (my go to food) of Phnom Penh I take the Street Food Guy stuff seriously, and for days have been trying all kinds of weird stuff, like frogs with tamarind, Cambodian sausages, and even a sea snake! Today it Khmer Sour Soup that had caught my eye.

I’d managed to find a really good restaurant near my hotel called Dy Vila, which seemed to be mostly frequented by locals, had a great menu, and even better service. I ordered the sour soup.

Khmer Sour Soup, or as it is properly known Samar Machu (Khmer: សម្លម្ជូរ) is a soup usually served with chicken that is made sour using limes, and the ever versatile tamarind.

Traditionally it comes with chicken, although you can have it with beef, which is what I went for. Aside from the aforementioned items the main base of the soup is the vegetables, namely shallots, lime leaves, ginger, and even pineapple chunks. You can see a great recipe for Khmer Sour soup here (link). Apparently of all the flavors the Khmer love sour the most, and there are many variations of the dish throughout the country.

So, what does Cambodian sour soup taste like?

I’m not going to lie it was slightly different to what I was exactly expecting to be served! As you’ll see from the photo it is avery green dish! And one might say more a shallot soup than a beef, or chicken one, with the meat serving being slightly less than I would ideally be hoping for! Taste wise it was indeed sour in essence, with me finding the lime leaves a bit much!

Is it worth trying Khmer Sour Soup

Cambodian sour soup hardly rocked my world, and it is not enough to keep hunger at bay for a whole night, but it more than does the job as a starter, and I will be trying it more as I traverse the country!