Recipe
Cha Kroeung Sach Moan (recipe)
Chicken thigh marinated in Khmer yellow kroeung, stir-fried with onion and bell peppers and finished with kaffir lime leaf and basil.
This cha kroeung sach moan recipe makes a Cambodian lemongrass chicken stir-fry built on yellow kroeung, the Khmer herb and spice paste.[1] Grantourismo Travels, which spells the dish chha kroeung sach moan, based the recipe on a dish its authors ordered after moving to Siem Reap in 2013. It came from a local eatery on the corner of Wat Bo Road and Street 27 in Wat Bo Village, which offered it with beef, pork or chicken. That eatery has since been replaced by a pharmacy.[1]
Ingredients
- 450 g chicken thigh fillets, boned and skinned
- 2 tbsp neutral cooking oil, in total
- 4 tbsp Khmer yellow kroeung paste, in total
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 medium white onion, sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 4 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp palm sugar, or brown or white sugar
- Makrut lime leaves, finely sliced, to garnish
- Fresh Cambodian or Thai basil, to garnish
Method
- The chicken is cut into bite-sized pieces of 3 to 4 cm (about 1.5 in).
- It is coated with half the kroeung and a splash of oil and chilled while the rest is prepared, or marinated for 30 minutes to an hour for more aroma.
- The garlic and onion are stir-fried in a little oil in a hot wok for one to two minutes, until the onion is translucent, then set aside.
- The bell peppers are stir-fried for one to two minutes, until slightly soft but still crunchy, and set aside.
- The marinated chicken goes into the wok with the remaining kroeung, the rest of the oil, the fish sauce and the sugar.
- The chicken is stir-fried for a few minutes, until the thickest piece is just cooked through.
- The onion and peppers return to the wok for one more minute of stir-frying.
- The dish is plated at once, garnished with makrut lime leaf or basil, and served with steamed rice.
The recipe uses a carbon-steel wok.[1]