APAD 099: Nom pang

I remembered taking this photo almost a month ago. My husband, younger brother and I left our house very early in the morning to drive out of Phnom Penh heading west.

It was a Sunday, and the whole country is celebrating the Chinese New Year. We were supposed to turn left at a junction where there is a small but bustling market. It’s called the Prek Phnov market. Anything and everything can be bought there.

Had the lady in colourful shirt not moved you would’ve seen some more nom pang (a local French bread) stacked neatly. My brother called it the “great wall of bread”.

To her right, which is not seen in the photo, are huge baskets of nom pang and another set of neatly stacked nom pang. Nom pang is really great with Khmer curry, or simply toasted over charcoal and dipped in condensed milk. A local sandwich known as nom pang pate is also a popular streetfood here. A pate is the Khmer version of the western meatloaf.