Four Culinary Recipes Shared by Princess Norodom Rasmi Sobbhana in 1955

About the publication

Two years after Cambodia's independence (9 November 1953, after ninety years of French colonial control over the country), the cultural review France-Asie, printed in Saigon, published a special issue devoted to Cambodia, with a foreword by H.M. King Suramarit, Princess Rasmi Sobbhana's eldest brother, and the introduction letter by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, then President of the Cambodian Council of Ministers.

Contributors to this historic publication included renowned Khmerologists, ethnographers and archaelogists such as Eveline Porée-Maspero, Solange Bernard-Thierry, Srin Saris-Yann, George Coedès, Henri Marchal, or François Martini, the latter authoring the essay ´La cuisine cambodgienne´ (Cambodian Cuisine).

The Princess' Contribution

Briefly describing the originality of Cambodian culinary art, and noting that the trend in Phnom Penh elites was then to favor Chinese, Thai or French cuisines over the national ones, Martini quotes H.R.H. Princess Peng Peas Norodom Yukhantor, who remarked to him that refined Cambodian cuisine required "so minutious and time-consuming preparation" that modern housewives tended to turrn to simpler and more standardized dishes.

"I have been told that H.R.H. Princess Rasmi Sutharot is currently gathering in a large book all the genuine dishes of her country", reports Martini before thanking the Princess for sharing four of these recipes, published in continuation.

Later known as Samdech Preah Reach Kanitha Norodom Rasmi Sobbhana, Princess Rasmi Sutharot was thus collating in French recipes of Cambodian traditional cuisine, that were to be translated in English and published in 1960 under the title The Culinary Art of Cambodia. This version, completed with additional recipes in Khmer language authored by the Princess herself, has been republished in May 2021.

Two of the four recipes here in French language are reproduced in our publication : Riz Royal (Royal Rice, Phoat Khsat, numbered 8.h) and Filet d'Or (Golden Net, Samnanh Meas សំណាញ់, numbered 3.b). The other two have been later modified.

As early as 1955, however, we can already find the Princess' elegant style, and her attention to the visual ("belle présentation", beautiful plating) and olfactory ("odeur exquise", exquisite scent") impact of dishes.

Get a copy of the Culinary Art of Cambodia 2021 edition

'Samdech Kanitha' was already representing HM King Sihanouk to official functions, as shown in these photos from June 24 1951 at the French Embassy, Phnom Penh, when archaelogist and Angkor Conservator Henri Marchal was bestowed the Légion d'Honneur by the French Ambassador:

Also in attendance, another of the King's aunts, HRH Princess Norodom Peng Pos Yukanthor, and the then director of EFEO, Louis Malleret (photos EFEO, retrieved by Poum Measbandol in 2021).

The Khmer Touch

Samdech Kanitha was the first to add refined Khmer dishes to Royal Palace dinners offered to illustrious guests. Even in the late 1950s and 1960s, King Norodom Sihanouk followed King Norodom I's dilection for French cuisine -- the latter was so proud of his French chefs that His Majesty would introduce them to his foreign guests. Typically, Malcom McDonald, the British High Commissioner for South East Asia, quite the ultimate esthete and sybarite himself, admiratively noted down in his Angkor book the dinner that the King offered to him and 29 other guests at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh when he visited Cambodia in 1957 with Malaysian-Chinese movie magnate and photographer Loke Wan Tho: "Potage Bisque d'Ecrevisses/Barquettes de Caviar/Pointes d'Asperges au Gratin/ Dindonneau Farci au Foie Gras/ Salade de Dalat/ Caprice d'Arlette/ Coupe Khemarin."

Other Contributions

Another cherished aunt of SM King Sihanouk's, HRR Princess Ket Kanya Mom, was a culinary inspiration for the late Cambodian sovereign, who liked to publish her own recipes in the Bulletin Mensuel d'Information, a Royal Palace publication: