Traditional Cambodian cuisine is one of detail, of small amounts of fresh ingredients with intriguing textures, complex aromas and exhilarating flavours, combined to create a distinctly light, delicate and healthy cuisine.

Fist, both fresh and its preserved forms – prahok (fermented) and trei chha-ae(smoked), plentiful from the Great Lake (Tonle Sap) and the Mekong River are predominant components of Cambodian cuisine, as are lemon grass, kaffir lime, galangal, turmeric, garlic and shallot. Cambodian cuisine differs from others in the region in its careful use of chillies, in only a few dishes are they cooked with other ingredients. Rather, chillies are served on the side on the side and left to each person’s taste whether or not to add them to the food.

A typical Cambodian meal would normally consist of a soup, a salad, a main fish dish, vegetables and rice. A Cambodian dessert, normally based on fresh fruits and sticky rice, complement the meal.

In the Royal Family, my two late aunts: HRH Samdech Preah Kanitha Norodom Rasmi Sobhana and HRH Princess Norodom Mom Ket Kanya, were well known for their enthusiasm for Cambodian cuisine. So much so that a book of recipes by Princess Rasmi Sobhana was published in the 1960s by the American Women’s Club in Phnom Penh.

Princess Rasmi Sobhana paid a lot of attention to the presentation of her own dishes, they were very artistic. Princess Mom focussed on the taste of each individual dish she produced.

Thus, the cuisine of Princess Mom can be compared to the tradition, classical French cuisine while Princess Rasmi Sobhana’s cuisine can be compared to French new cuisine.

I, myself used to enjoy cooking and during my exile in Peking, between 1970 and 1991, I produced many dishes with the help of my aunt Princess Mom and that of a great cook from China placed at my disposal by the late Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, who very much enjoyed some of my dishes as did, later on, his successor, the late Deng Xiaoping.

I am delighted that the English speaking world will now have a Cambodian cook-book at their disposal, in which some of the most favorites dishes of my late aunts HRH Samdech Preah Kanitha Norodom Rasmi Sobhana and HRH Princess Norodom Mom Ket Kanya will be included.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the author, Nusara Thaitawat, a long time friend of Cambodia, and photographer, Somkid Chaijitvanit who took fantastic pictures of my ancestral home for The Royal Palace of Phnom Penh and Cambodian Royal Life, and the editors, publishers and all persons who collaborated in this important project to make Cambodian culinary art known around the world.