Dish

Sach Ko Ang

សាច់គោអាំង

Grilled Khmer beef skewers marinated in kroeung and sold as a late-afternoon street snack.

Sach ko ang (សាច់គោអាំង, sach ko ang) are grilled Khmer beef skewers marinated in kroeung and sold as a late-afternoon street snack.[1] In Khmer, sach ko means beef and ang means barbecue.[1]

Cultural context

Sach ko ang is a traditional Khmer food. Its smell fills the air at most street food markets and community gatherings in Cambodia.[1] Vendors grill the skewers on clay braziers, which are charcoal burners, and people passing by stop to buy one or two as an afternoon snack.[1] It is a classic snack for the late afternoon or early evening, eaten right across the country.[2] It tides people over until dinner, and crowds sit around the grill at the stalls.[3] The skewers are also sold at night markets, street barbecue stalls and beer gardens, in cities such as Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Kampot.[4] Grantourismo Travels counts them among the most familiar snacks in Siem Reap.[2] Families and friends often share them at outdoor gatherings.[5]

At lunch the skewers become a full meal, with a sweet, crunchy pickle of green papaya and carrot, either inside a crusty baguette or with steamed rice.[1] Some people slide the meat off the skewer into a buttered baguette, a legacy of the French.[2] In a baguette with pâté, pickles and herbs, the beef becomes num pang sach ko, which is eaten as a breakfast sandwich. Street carts sell both the rice and the baguette versions from the same grill.[6] The baguette is a Cambodian touch taken from French colonial food, while the filling follows Khmer taste.[6] The skewers are also one of the fillings used in num pang sandwiches.[7] Bon Appétit pairs the dish with an ice-cold beer, as Khmer people drink it.[1]

In Phnom Penh markets, the baguette version is called sach ko ang jakak (2014).[8] At Yee-aw Sok Sor ("white-haired grandma"), a stall on Street 51, the cooks marinated the skewers in a kroeung of lemongrass, turmeric and galangal and grilled them until they sizzled. Customers forked the red meat into a crunchy baguette with red chili and strips of papaya and carrot, finished with ber, a yellow sauce of butter, sugar and egg.[8]

Bon Appétit's recipe was taught to the writer Lara Lee by Pek Sarann, a Khmer cook from Phnom Penh who owns the Bok it Ihe (បុកឥតល្ហែ) restaurant in Koh Kong. Pek Sarann learned it from her mother.[1] In Oakland, the dish is made by Nite Yun, chef and owner of the Cambodian restaurant Nyum Bai. Her mother made many of these skewers for summer events such as birthdays.[9]

Ingredients and preparation

The marinade is what sets these skewers apart from other grilled meats in Southeast Asia.[2] It is built on kroeung, one of five signature spice pastes in Khmer cooking, whose aromatic base is galangal, lemongrass and makrut lime leaves.[1] Kroeung means paste in Khmer.[2] Sach ko ang uses yellow kroeung, which gets its golden color from fresh turmeric.[1] Lemongrass is a key ingredient in yellow kroeung, which is why the dish is sometimes called lemongrass beef skewers.[2] The beef is also seasoned with oyster sauce and palm sugar.[1] Palm sugar and fish sauce give the skewers a sweet and savory taste and help form the glaze on the grill.[6] The kroeung may be pounded by hand in a mortar and pestle or made in a blender.[2]

In Bon Appétit's recipe, lemongrass, chilies, shallots, garlic, lime leaves, galangal, turmeric, oyster sauce, palm sugar, fish sauce, garlic powder, oil and salt are pulsed into a marinade.[1] The beef rests in it for at least 30 minutes, or up to 12 hours in the refrigerator, and chilled beef sits out for an hour before grilling.[1] Pek Sarann grills her skewers after only 30 minutes, to bring out the freshness of the kroeung, while other Khmer cooks prefer a longer marinade.[1] The skewers grill over medium-high heat for six to eight minutes for medium, turned about every minute, or they can be cooked in a lightly oiled cast-iron skillet.[1] For the pickle, shallot, garlic, ginger and vegetables are tossed with vinegar, palm sugar and salt. It is ready after 30 minutes at room temperature, or it can be chilled for up to 12 hours.[1] The recipe serves six as an appetizer or four as a main course.[1]

Grantourismo Travels uses 400 grams (14 ounces) of sirloin and 50 grams (1.8 ounces) of rindless fatty pork belly or pork fat. The marinade has four tablespoons of yellow kroeung, a tablespoon of roasted and pounded peanuts, two tablespoons of palm sugar and four tablespoons of fish sauce.[2] Wooden skewers soak in water for an hour so they do not burn. The beef is cut into cubes of about 3 centimeters (1 inch), the pork fat into thin squares of the same size, and both marinate for an hour.[2] Beef and pork fat alternate on the skewers. They cook over charcoal at the white-heat stage with no open flame and are turned as each side is done and brushed with the leftover marinade.[2] The pork fat is added because local beef often comes from working animals and can be tough and dry out fast. It keeps the meat moist, and the fat dripping onto the coals adds smoke.[2] The skewers are served at once with pickled vegetables and a splash of chili if wanted.[2] The pickle is usually thin strips of carrot and daikon radish, quickly pickled with water, salt, sugar and a little lime juice, eaten on the side or in the baguette.[2]

Sunset's recipe freezes the beef for one to three hours to firm it. The meat is cut across the grain into slices 1.25 centimeters (½ inch) thick, then into pieces about 5 centimeters (2 inches) long and 2 centimeters (¾ inch) wide.[9] It marinates with a Cambodian spice paste for at least one day and up to three days.[9] The pieces are threaded lengthwise and packed tight onto 25-centimeter (10-inch) skewers soaked for at least 20 minutes. They grill on a very hot, well-oiled grill, 260 to 290°C (500 to 550°F), for six to eight minutes, turned every couple of minutes, until lightly charred but still pink in the center, and are sprinkled with salt.[9] Sunset serves them with pickled green papaya and grilled corn drizzled with coconut milk.[9]

Another recipe slices 600 grams (21 ounces) of flank or sirloin thin against the grain and marinates it for four hours in kroeung, palm sugar, fish sauce, oyster sauce and coconut milk.[6] It grills over medium-hot charcoal for two to three minutes a side, until the edges turn dark amber, and some cooks baste it with reserved marinade.[6] The kroeung is pounded to a true paste. A rough chop does not cling to thin beef, and fibrous bits of lemongrass can burn.[6] Fresh turmeric gives a fuller scent than dried, a very hot fire burns the palm sugar, and thick slices dry out before the glaze forms.[6] The skewers are eaten with tuk meric, a dip of lime juice, cracked black pepper and salt, and with pickled papaya and baguette in the Phnom Penh way, or with rice.[6]

Regional and household variations

Cooks vary the marinade with toasted ground star anise, MSG, chili paste or fish sauce.[1] Some versions use lemongrass, garlic, soy sauce and sugar, and serve the skewers with a Kampot pepper and lime dip and sometimes pickled vegetables.[4] Others blend garlic, ginger, fish sauce and local spices.[5] The dish is also called sach ko chomkak and sach ko jakak.[6]

Sach ko chror nouch is a related skewer. Thin slices of marinated beef are wrapped around a piece of pork fat and then skewered.[2]

The name also covers a larger Khmer beef barbecue, sometimes called koo dut, in which a whole cow is roasted on a spit over charcoal for hours.[10] Diners choose cuts such as ribs, brisket, flank or sirloin, sometimes with offal. The meat is cut into chunks, often seared again on a side grill, and served pink.[10] It comes with lettuce, cucumber, banana flower, mint and other greens, rice or thin Khmer noodles, and dips of chili, pepper and lime and at least one prahok sauce. It is eaten as a shared feast.[10] This barbecue is found throughout Phnom Penh, at some restaurants in Siem Reap and in most rural areas (2026).[10]

Preparations and recipes

  • Terence Carter, Grantourismo
    Cubed sirloin and pork fat marinated in yellow kroeung with palm sugar and fish sauce, then barbecued over coals.

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 Bon Appétit, Sach Ko Ang (Barbecued Beef Skewers)
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 Grantourismo Travels, Cambodian Beef Skewers Recipe - How To Make Sach Ko Ang (March 19, 2020)
  3. ↑ Chef's Pencil, 20 Most Popular Cambodian Foods (February 14, 2022)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cambodia Authority Hub, Sach Ko Ang (សាច់គោអាំង), Cambodian Food Encyclopedia (February 5, 2026)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Breslin, 23 Mouthwatering Cambodian Foods Every Food Lover Needs to Try
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 How To Make A Kebab, Sach Ko Ang (Cambodia): Cubed Meat Skewer Recipe & Story (July 4, 2026)
  7. ↑ Chowhound, 19 Cambodian Dishes Everyone Should Try At Least Once (August 18, 2025)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Phnom Penh Post, Cheap Eats (September 13, 2014)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Sunset Magazine, Lemongrass Beef Skewers (Sach Ko Ang) Recipe (July 27, 2023)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 The Street Food Guy, Khmer Beef BBQ (April 23, 2026)
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This page was last edited on 2 October 2026, at 01:35.