Dish
Kari Sach Moan
Mild Cambodian red chicken curry made with kroeung paste and coconut milk, with sweet potatoes and other vegetables.
Kari Sach Moan is a mild Cambodian red chicken curry made with kroeung paste and coconut milk, with sweet potatoes and other vegetables.[1][2][3] It is also called somlar kari sach moan.[3]
Cultural context
Kari sach moan is a popular curry across Cambodia.[4][3] Other Cambodian curries include fish amok and kari saraman.[4] It is served with rice, noodles or bread.[3][5] It is a dish for weddings, ceremonies and other special occasions.[1][4]
As of 2025, Khmer Noodles Restaurant in Phnom Penh, on Samdach Phuong Street, served the dish.[1]
Ingredients and preparation
A Cambodian red chicken curry is a little milder than a Thai red curry.[6] The paste is bright red, but the coconut cream and milk give the finished curry a yellow tint.[7] It is made with local red chilies, which are milder than those in Thai curry.[1][4] Sources differ on its heat. L'Academie de Cuisine calls it a spicy chicken curry, and Chowhound credits bird's eye chiles with its reddish-orange color and heat.[4][3]
The base is kroeung samlor kari, the red kroeung paste.[6] Cambodian cooks use several kroeung pastes, among them yellow, green and red.[6][2] The base kroeung is lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime zest and turmeric. Garlic and shallots are added when the paste is finished at home. Unlike Thai curry pastes, the base has no chili. The red kroeung adds dried red chilies.[6] The paste is pounded with a pestle in a mortar until it is smooth.[6]
The Grantourismo recipe, adapted from the cookbook Authentic Cambodian Recipes From Mother to Daughter, starts with red kroeung pounded in a mortar. The paste is stir-fried with shrimp paste and palm sugar until fragrant, and the chicken is coated in it and lightly browned. Coconut cream and fish sauce go in, then coconut milk and stock, and the curry simmers until the chicken is tender. Long beans and eggplant are added, and potatoes go in just before serving. The recipe suggests steamed rice or fresh rice vermicelli with cucumber or bean sprouts.[7]
History and origins
Writers link Cambodian curry to Indian influence, and one says traders from India brought curries and turmeric.[2] Another ties it to Funan, an Indianized state that arose around the Mekong Delta in the first century of the common era, and infers that curry reached local cooking in that period.[8]
Many Khmer recipes and ingredients were nearly lost during the Khmer Rouge period of the 1970s. The regime placed restrictions on food, and cooking at home was illegal.[9] Records of Cambodian cuisine were destroyed in those years.[10] Since then, Cambodian chefs have worked to preserve those recipes, and one has recorded dishes from village elders around the country.[9]
Regional and household variations
Kroeung is made fresh each day, at home and for sale in markets.[6] Every household has its own version of the paste.[2]
The vegetables vary. Some versions use white radish and sweet potatoes.[1] The Angkor Cambodian Food recipe uses onion, long beans, bamboo shoots, carrots, potatoes and coconut cream with chicken thighs and the company's red curry paste. It can be made with a whole chicken on the bone, with water in place of broth.[11] That version is served with toasted baguette or with nom bunchoak rice noodles, sprouts, lime, fish sauce and chili.[11] The same Khmer red curry is also made with beef or fish.[5]
Preparations and recipes
- SreyDa
- Bone-in chicken browned in homemade red kroeung then simmered in coconut cream with sweet potato, Thai eggplant and long beans.
References 11
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Living + Nomads, 19+ most popular and must try food in Cambodia (February 3, 2025)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Gastro Travelogue, Cambodian Food: The Ultimate Guide to Khmer Cuisine (October 28, 2025)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Chowhound, 19 Cambodian Dishes Everyone Should Try At Least Once (August 18, 2025)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 L'Academie de Cuisine, 31 Cambodian Foods to Savor (March 3, 2022)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cambodia Immigration Services, What Is Cambodia's Famous Food?
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Grantourismo, Kroeung Cambodian Curry Paste: A Cambodian Cuisine Essential (May 20, 2014)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Grantourismo, Cambodian Chicken Curry Recipe for a Gentle Khmer Curry (August 20, 2019)
- ↑ USA ASEAN Young Professionals Association, The History and Impact of Cambodian Cuisine (July 15, 2023)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 BBC Travel, The return of Cambodia's food lost during the Khmer Rouge regime (March 21, 2024)
- ↑ CNN, Resurrecting Cambodia's lost Khmer cuisine (May 3, 2017)
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Angkor Cambodian Food, Cambodian Chicken Curry (June 19, 2026)
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