Recipe
Pleah Sach Ko (recipe)
Sliced beef fillet cured in a prahok, lime and palm sugar marinade and tossed with herbs, vegetables and peanuts.
This recipe for pleah sach ko (ភ្លាសាច់គោ), Cambodian lime-cured beef salad, comes from the food site The Food Dictator.[1] Thinly sliced raw beef is cured in lime juice with palm sugar, lemongrass and garlic, then tossed with herbs and vegetables.[2][1]
The salad is popular throughout Cambodia, served at roadside stalls and in fine-dining restaurants, and its origins are unknown. Its main flavor comes from prahok, a thick fermented fish paste, used here as tuk prahok.[1]
Ingredients
- 1 lb beef fillet, finely sliced
- 3 tbsp tuk prahok, or fish sauce pounded with an anchovy fillet
- Juice of 3 limes, divided
- 3 tbsp palm sugar
- 2 stalks lemongrass, very finely sliced
- 2 shallots, finely sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2.5 tbsp galangal, finely slivered, or ginger
- 2 kaffir lime leaves, central rib removed and finely slivered, or the zest of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp carrot, finely slivered
- 1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 red Fresno chili, finely sliced
- 2 oz roasted unsalted peanuts
- 3 leaves Thai basil, slivered
- 3 saw leaves, slivered, or regular basil
- 0.25 cup long beans or green beans, chopped
- 0.25 cup bean sprouts
- 0.5 yellow onion, finely sliced
- 1 cucumber, peeled and sliced, to garnish
- Cilantro leaves, to garnish
Method
- Whisk two tablespoons of the tuk prahok with the juice of two limes and two tablespoons palm sugar until dissolved.
- Stir in the lemongrass, shallots, onion, basil, saw leaves and garlic.
- Toss the sliced beef through the marinade, cover and refrigerate one to two hours.
- Whisk the remaining tuk prahok with the last of the lime juice and palm sugar to make the dressing.
- Drain the beef of remaining liquid and put it in a clean bowl.
- Add the remaining ingredients apart from the garnishes and dressing.
- Toss with the dressing, garnish with cucumber and cilantro and serve immediately.