Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Bai Sach Chrouk
Thinly sliced grilled coconut-marinated pork over broken rice, with pickles and a clear broth.
Cambodian · easy · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 15 min
~895 cal · 56g protein · 93g carbs · 32g fat · 3g fiber · 7g sugars · 15g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Bai sach chrouk is one of Cambodia's most beloved breakfasts, thinly sliced pork marinated in and garlic, grilled slowly over charcoal until smoky and caramelized, then served over broken rice with pickled vegetables. Simple and savory-sweet, it is a Phnom Penh morning staple.
The slow grilling over coals gives the pork its signature smoky, slightly sweet char, and it's served with a bowl of clear broth and tangy pickled cucumber and daikon to cut the richness. Broken rice ('bai') is the traditional, humble base.
Sold from street stalls across Cambodia from dawn, bai sach chrouk is cheap and satisfying.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy- and egg-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1.5 lb pork shoulder, thinly sliced
1/2 cup
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp palm sugar (marinade)
2 cups broken rice
1 cucumber, pickled
1/2 daikon, pickled
2 tbsp soy or tamari
1 tbsp
1 lime
Instructions
1
Marinate the pork (or portobello and tofu) in the coconut milk, garlic, palm sugar, soy sauce, and fish sauce.
2
Cook the broken rice until tender.
3
Grill the pork over charcoal or a hot pan until caramelized and cooked.
4
Quick-pickle the cucumber and daikon in vinegar and sugar.
5
Slice the pork over the rice with the pickles and a wedge of lime.
Siem Reap tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Siem Reap. Siem Reap, gateway to Angkor, cooks Khmer classics, fish amok steamed in banana leaf, sour soups, and the fermented paste prahok. Tonlé Sap lake fish define Cambodia's temple-town table.
🗺️
Cambodia. Cambodian (Khmer) food is subtler and less fiery than its neighbors, built on the fermented fish paste prahok and the herb-and-spice paste kroeung. Fish amok, sour soups, and fresh river fish reflect life around the Tonlé Sap lake.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Cambodia
Fish AmokA silky steamed fish curry-custard in banana-leaf cups, built on pounded lemongrass kroeung and coconut cream.
Nom Banh ChokRice noodles under a fragrant green fish-and-lemongrass gravy, piled with raw vegetables, Cambodia's Khmer noodles.
Sankhya LapovA whole kabocha pumpkin steamed with a coconut-palm-sugar custard inside, a striking Cambodian dessert.
Browse all Cambodia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Cambodia meal
Tuk Ampov (Sugarcane Juice)Drink
Sankhya LapovDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Gallo PintoNicaragua
JokThailand
Lu Rou FanTaiwan
Cơm Tấm Sườn NướngVietnam
ChifrijoCosta Rica
KimbapSouth Korea
Frequently asked questions
What is Bai Sach Chrouk?
Thinly sliced grilled coconut-marinated pork over broken rice, with pickles and a clear broth.
Where does Bai Sach Chrouk come from?
Bai Sach Chrouk is a Cambodian dish from Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Can Bai Sach Chrouk be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Bai Sach Chrouk recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Bai Sach Chrouk safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Bai Sach Chrouk take to make?
About 40 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.