Recipe

Num Banh Chok (recipe)

Fresh rice noodles with a fish and coconut cream curry, thickened by pounding poached fish into an aromatic paste.

This recipe for num banh chok, Khmer noodles with a fish and coconut curry, was published by Asia Society Korea on March 24, 2022.[1] Matthew Fennell of Asia Society Korea shared it and credits the recipe to Asian Food Network.[1] Num banh chok is a fish-based curry over rice noodles, eaten for breakfast all over Cambodia and sold by local vendors every morning.[1]

Each region has its own version. Cooks in Kampot may add dried shrimp, coconut cream and fish sauce, while in Siem Reap they use more garlic and serve a sweeter fish sauce.[1] Siem Reap's sweet sauce, tuk paem, is made from palm sugar and peanuts.[2]

The published recipe serves four. It ends once the noodles are drained and does not describe garnishes or serving.[1]

Ingredients

For the fish and broth:

  • 1 kg (2.2 lb) monkfish
  • 3 liters water
  • 1 tbsp galangal, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 tbsp gratchai (fingerroot)
  • 4 kaffir lime leaves
  • 1 liter coconut cream
  • 150 to 200 ml fish sauce
  • 50 g sugar
  • 1 packet bun noodles (rice noodles)

For the curry paste:

  • 2 lemongrass stalks, crushed and sliced
  • 4 large red chilies, sliced, or rehydrated dried chilies
  • 25 g galangal, peeled and sliced
  • 100 g turmeric, peeled and sliced
  • 4 kaffir lime leaves
  • 1 tsp gratchai

Method

  1. Bring three liters of water to a boil in a large pot over medium heat.
  2. Add the galangal, gratchai and kaffir lime leaves and heat them about five minutes.
  3. Poach the monkfish for about ten minutes, until cooked through.
  4. Lift out the fish and strain the stock, keeping both and discarding the aromatics.
  5. Cool the fish, pick out every bone and keep the flesh.
  6. Blend the curry paste ingredients until smooth, then pound the fish in a mortar and pestle and pound in the paste.
  7. Return the stock to the boil with the fish mixture and simmer 20 to 30 minutes.
  8. Stir in the coconut cream, sugar and fish sauce and simmer ten minutes more.
  9. Boil the noodles about five minutes, rest them five minutes off the heat, rinse under cold water and drain.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Asia Society Korea, Khmer Noodles in Korea: A Recipe for Num Banh Chok (March 24, 2022)
  2. ↑ CNN Travel, 30 Cambodian foods every visitor needs to try
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This page was last edited on 27 September 2026, at 00:23.