Recipe
Tuk Trey (recipe)
Pounded garlic and chilli dipping sauce balanced with sugar, lime juice and fish sauce.
This recipe for Tuk Trey, a pounded garlic and chili dipping sauce made with fish sauce and lime, follows the version published by Thida's Kitchen.[1] In Khmer the name is written ទឹកត្រី and means "fish water."[2] Thida's Kitchen calls this spicy version teuk trey Koh Kong, also known as teuk trey bawk.[1]
The sauce is spicy, sweet, sour and salty, and it is most often served with fried and barbecued meats.[1] It is the sauce served with steamed blue crab at most restaurants and market stalls in Kep's Crab Market.[1] Thida's Kitchen gives the quantities its authors usually make at home, and likens the result to the sauces found across southern Cambodia.[1]
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp white sugar, or palm sugar for a caramel flavor
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1.5 tbsp fish sauce
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 chili peppers
- 0.5 tsp MSG[1]
Method
The sauce is made in a small mortar and pestle, and the recipe lists 5 minutes of preparation and 10 minutes of cooking.[1]
- Peel the garlic and put the cloves in the mortar with the chili peppers.
- Pound them to a paste, usually two to three minutes.
- Add the MSG and sugar and keep pounding until they blend into the paste.
- Add the lime juice and fish sauce and mix with a spoon or fork.
- Taste, adjust, and serve in a small bowl. Leftovers keep in the refrigerator in a glass or plastic container.[1]
More chili makes the sauce hotter, and less sugar brings out its savory, zesty side. More garlic gives a thicker sauce close to a relish. For spring rolls, the recipe reduces the fish sauce to 1 tablespoon and adds another half tablespoon of sugar.[1]