About this recipe
Bai sach chrouk — literally rice (bai) with pork (sach chrouk) — is one of Cambodia's classic breakfasts, sold from street stalls in the early morning. Thinly sliced pork is marinated, often with garlic, palm sugar and sometimes coconut milk, and grilled over charcoal until caramelised and smoky, then served over rice with a few pickles, some cucumber and a small bowl of light broth on the side. It is a simple, everyday dish that rewards good pork and a proper char. It sits in the same broad family as grilled-pork-over-rice plates elsewhere in the region, and shares much with the Vietnamese com tam; this book presents the Khmer form and notes the kinship rather than merging them, since the components differ.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Prep
- 20 minutes (plus 2 hours or overnight marinating)
- Cook
- 20 minutes
- Total
- 160 minutes
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Spice
- Mild
Allergens Contains pork; the marinade contains soy and often fish sauce. Contains no dairy. Not vegetarian. See the halal-status field.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The pork and marinade
- 1 1/4 lb (570 g) pork shoulder or pork loin, sliced thin (about 1/4 in / 6 mm)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) thin coconut milk or coconut water
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) fish sauce
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) soy sauce
- 2 tbsp (25 g) palm sugar, grated
- 1/2 tsp (1 g) black pepper
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) neutral oil
Quick pickles
- 1 cup daikon and carrot, julienned
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp (12 g) sugar
- 1/2 tsp (3 g) salt
To serve
- 4 cups cooked broken rice or steamed jasmine rice, hot
- 1 cucumber, sliced
- 2 scallions, sliced
- Light clear broth (see method), for small bowls on the side
- Fish sauce dip (tuk trey) or extra pickles, optional
Equipment
- Charcoal grill, grill pan or broiler
- Mixing bowl for the marinade
- Small saucepan for the broth
- Small jar or bowl for quick pickles
Method
- Combine the pork with the garlic, coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, palm sugar, black pepper and oil. Mix well, cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours, ideally overnight.
- Make the pickles: dissolve the sugar and salt in the rice vinegar, add the daikon and carrot, and leave at least 30 minutes.
- Make a simple broth if serving: simmer any pork trimmings with water and a pinch of salt for 15 minutes, then strain; or simply warm a little light unsalted stock. Keep hot.
- Heat the grill, grill pan or broiler until hot. Grill the marinated pork slices in a single layer, 2 to 3 minutes per side, until caramelised at the edges and just cooked through. Watch closely — the sugar in the marinade browns fast.
- Let the pork rest a couple of minutes, then slice any larger pieces into bite-size strips.
- Mound the hot rice on each plate, fan the grilled pork over it, and add cucumber slices and a little drained pickle to the side. Scatter with scallion.
- Serve with a small bowl of the hot broth alongside, and a dish of fish-sauce dip if you like.
The Complete Edition
Bai Sach Chrouk (Pork & Rice) sits in the Cambodia chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Cambodia chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.