Food plays a big part in representing a country. Being in Southeast Asia, many countries in this region share some similarities in their food. Malaysia and Cambodia too have many similarities in terms of food. So, we decided to do a food exchange to further find out the similarities and differences.

In this episode, we have Dalin, our FoodBuzz content editor, and Dr. Su-Lin Tan, our Malaysian guest of the day and they will be exchanging some food with each other. We’ve selected three different types of food and we’ll see how the Malaysian & Cambodian version look and taste like. 

First off, we have the Khmer curry and the Malaysian curry laksa. Both are curry noodles but the taste is quite different. The Khmer curry is slightly sweeter and you can find vegetables like carrots, onions, and potatoes in it with meat and sometimes blood ‘jelly’. And you garnish it with more fresh vegetables and edible flowers. It can be eaten with either noodles, rice, or baguette. Whereas the Malaysian curry laksa is thicker and spicier with a stronger taste of coconut milk. In the curry laksa, there are prawns, fish cakes, cockles, tofu, and boiled egg and normally eaten with yellow noodles or rice noodles.

Next, our hosts tried the Cambodian Sach Ko Ang (Grilled Beef) and the Malaysian Satay. Both are pretty similar and what sets them apart is the sauce. While the Cambodian grilled beef is normally eaten with pickled papaya salad, the Malaysian satay is served with a peanut-based sauce and cucumber, onions, and compressed rice cubes. The thick and slightly sweet satay sauce is a must when having satay. As compared to the Cambodian grilled beef, the satay meat has a stronger taste of turmeric and lemongrass which is probably used in its marinate. 

And last but not least, we ended the session with some carbohydrates, rice dumplings! We prepared the Cambodian rice cake called Nom Ansom and the Malaysian Chinese meat dumplings, commonly called ‘Bak Zhang’ in the Hokkien dialect. Both are rice dumplings made from glutinous rice but the end product is quite different. The Nom Ansom is wrapped in banana leaf and shaped like a cylinder. The rice is white with ingredients like pork and mung beans inside. It is a common food especially during festivals and celebrations like Khmer New Year and Pchum Ben festivals. The Bak Zhang on the other hand is pyramid-shaped and wrapped in bamboo leaves. It has slightly more ingredients in it like pork belly, mushrooms, dried shrimps, salted egg yolk, and chestnut. The rice is also pre-mixed with sauces that gave it a dark brown color. Taste and texture are quite different with the Nom Ansom being more compressed while the Bak Zhang is lighter and you can taste different textures with the many different ingredients in it. 

• Home Away from Home series is all about food from your home country that is available in Cambodia. This series is brought to you by Maybank Cambodia. Follow @Maybank Cambodia on Facebook to find out more about their latest promotions. 
• This series is supported by the Embassy of Malaysia, Phnom Penh. All videos are shot using Sony 7RIV with 24-70mm f2.8 and Sony A7Riii with 85mm f1.4