Khmer. Main. Served at Mekong (#5 and #6).

Sach ang

Beef and pork skewers with pickle and tuk meric

Sach ang is Khmer grilled meat served on skewers. This recipe uses a kroeung and lemongrass marinade for both beef and pork, with Kampot pepper added to the beef and coconut milk and extra palm sugar added to the pork.

This version uses a broiler, with an optional torch finish to char the glaze. Serve with pickled green papaya, raw vegetables, and tuk meric, a dip of Kampot pepper, salt, and lime.

Makes
About 13 skewers of each meat, about 65 g raw each. One of each per person serves 10 to 12 as part of a larger meal, with spares.
Do ahead
Marinate 2 hours to overnight. Make the pickle the day before. Mix the dip and thread the skewers a few hours ahead; cook them just before you eat.

Ingredients

Scale

Meat

  • 800 gboneless ribeye, 1 to 1¼ inches thick (2 steaks), sliced ¼ inch across the grain, fat left on every piece (ribeye cap if the butcher has it)
  • 900 gpork collar or neck (coppa; kho muu at Thai shops), sliced ¼ inch

Base marinade (for both)

  • 4½ tbsp (about 70 g)kroeung, pounded smooth
  • 2 stalkslemongrass, pale part, minced very fine
  • 4 to 5 clovesgarlic, minced
  • 4 tbspoyster sauce
  • 3 tbspfish sauce
  • 3 tbsppalm sugar, grated
  • 3 tbspneutral oil
  • ¾ tspMSG

Finishes

  • 2¼ tspKampot black pepper, coarsely cracked, for the beef half
  • 1½ tspextra palm sugar, for the beef half, so the glaze caramelizes
  • 4½ tbspcoconut milk, for the pork half
  • 1½ tbspextra palm sugar, for the pork half

Pickle (chrouk l'hong)

  • 700 ggreen papaya, shredded or matchsticks (or carrot and daikon if no papaya)
  • 3carrots, matchsticks
  • 2½ tbspsalt, for kneading
  • 1¼ cupsrice vinegar
  • 1¼ cupswater
  • ⅔ cupsugar
  • 2½ tspsalt
  • 2½ tbspfish sauce
  • ½ tspMSG
  • 3shallots, sliced thin
  • 2 to 3Thai chiles, sliced
  • 3 tbspginger, fine julienne

Tuk meric (lime and Kampot pepper dip)

  • 2½ tbspKampot black pepper, lightly toasted, coarsely cracked
  • ⅔ cuplime juice
  • 1¼ tspsalt
  • 1¼ tspsugar
  • ¼ tspMSG
  • 2 clovesgarlic, minced (optional)

The plate

  • cucumber spears
  • carrot sticks, if you have them
  • long beans
  • Thai basil
  • cilantro
  • lettuce leaves

Method

  1. Make the pickle the day before. Knead the salt into the papaya and carrot for 3 minutes. Rinse three times and squeeze dry. Heat the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and fish sauce until dissolved, then cool. Combine everything with the shallot, chile, and ginger. Let it sit overnight at minimum. It keeps a week.
  2. Slice the ribeye ¼ inch across the grain with the fat left on, and slice the pork collar ¼ inch. Keep them in separate bowls.
  3. Mix the base marinade until the sugar dissolves. It should taste salty-sweet and smell of lemongrass. Split it in half.
  4. Stir the Kampot pepper and its extra palm sugar into one half and coat the beef. Stir the coconut milk and its extra palm sugar into the other half and coat the pork. Marinate 2 hours minimum; overnight is better, especially for the pork.
  5. A few hours ahead, stir the tuk meric together and rest it 10 minutes. Serve it in small dishes so everyone dips their own skewers.
  6. Soak bamboo skewers 30 minutes. Thread the meat on accordion-style, three or four ribbons per skewer, loosely rather than packed tight, so the heat gets in.
  7. For the glaze, scrape the leftover marinade from both bowls into one small pan. Add a spoon of palm sugar and a splash of water. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes until syrupy.
  8. Set the broiler on high with the rack 3 to 4 inches from the element, and use a foil-lined sheet pan. Broil the beef about 3 minutes a side and the pork about 4 minutes a side. Brush with glaze and give them 1 minute more.
  9. Brush on glaze again, then blister it with the torch, moving fast, until the sugar spots go black at the edges. Keep the flame 4 to 5 inches away so you don't taste butane, and don't try to cook the meat with it.
  10. Serve everything on one board: the skewers, the pickle in a bowl, the dip in small dishes, and the raw vegetables and herbs.

Notes

  • Choose well-marbled meat so the skewers stay juicy and crisp under the broiler. If you use a lean cut, slice it 3 mm thick and thread pork fat between the pieces.
  • Ribeye and collar are marbled enough to crisp under the broiler on their own. Skirt or flap is the budget beef; shoulder from the fat-cap end, fatty pieces only, is the budget pork.
  • If the pork tastes flat, add ½ tsp grated fresh turmeric to its half of the marinade next time. The Kampot pepper should come through in the beef marinade.
  • If your broiler is weak, use a cast iron grill pan. Get it ripping hot and cook in batches without crowding.
  • The sugar smokes under the broiler, so open the windows and turn the fan on.
  • Keep the pickle sharp and crunchy; it shouldn't taste like sweet-and-sour sauce. Taste the brine before you add more sugar.
  • If you'd rather not make tuk meric, swap in a Lao jeow som: lime, fish sauce, chile, garlic, cilantro, a little palm sugar.
  • Some Khmer recipes add crushed peanuts to the beef marinade. I skip them.
  • The skewers take about 10 minutes under the broiler, in two batches if they don't all fit on one pan.