បាញ់ឆេវ read as Banh Chhev might be a dish originated from Vietnam called Banh Xeo but I don’t want to argue over who made it first. As a neighboring nation, more or less we are influenced by one another. We also adapted and changed it then based on our preference.
Please note that I made the title up as Cambodian food for the ease of search keywords for those who want to know about Cambodian food only.
However, we have a dish that is made in similar way called នំអំបែង read as Num Ambeng [Savory pancake] that does not use meat stuff inside the cake like Banh Chhev. This was originated from Cambodia and is a very simple way.
How we do it?
- There are different ways of doing it that you can find in the Youtube or Google.
- Making this requires such a long time, at least one day (prep- & eating)
- Now, it is easy, you can even get them from the market, one costs about 1.25$-2$ depends on size
- The cake can be stuffed with chicken (best taste among all), pork and fish.
- The dish is good for gathering, meeting, or occasions with many people. It is not worth it to make and eat for just few people.
Preparations
- Preparation for pancake [rice, core stuff w. chicken meat or pork or fish] I love to eat without putting any core stuff or meat at all. I love the crispy of the cake.
- Preparation of dip-sauce: dip-sauce that is right should be a combination of sweet, sour and salty, and then add peanut outside when consuming.
- Preparation of side vegetables: clean, cut and keep aside based on different types of vegetables [herbs, lettuce, cucumber, and many other]
- The whole process can be found in here. The way to do the core stuff can be found in here.
Note about the cake
- This dish again contains of the cake itself, sauce and then side vegetables (vary depends on regions and similar to that of side vegetables eaten with Khmer Noodle and Asian mackerel dip sauce)
- Yellow color is from the turmeric
- The cake is made from white rice
- Before, we scratch them with mortar but now they use rice powder they can buy from the market so the process won’t be long anymore.
- It is very popular among Cambodian as snacks or street food or party
My family often do it at home whenever our siblings passed state exam, 2 times each and 7 of us? => 14 times and we chose this dish as the dish for that congratulatory gathering!