Dish
Samlor Machu Kroeung
Khmer sour soup built on kroeung, soured with tamarind and seasoned with fish sauce or prahok.
Samlor machu kroeung (សម្លម្ជូរគ្រឿង, samlor machu kroeung) is a Khmer sour soup of kroeung paste and tamarind, seasoned with fish sauce, prahok or both.[1][2][3] It is one of the samlor machu soups, a family of sour soups that is found everywhere in Cambodia.[4]
Cultural context
In Khmer, samlor is soup and machu is sour.[5] Soups of this kind have long been everyday food in Khmer homes.[5]
Sour soups like this one belong to lunch and dinner. They are shared at the table, which sets them apart from the soups Cambodians eat at breakfast.[2] In villages and the countryside the soup may be eaten alone with rice. In the cities it may be one of several dishes, with rice, a stir-fry of vegetables, a salad, grilled fish or a curry.[2] In the rainy season, a version with snakehead fish, tamarind and wild mushrooms is a seasonal favorite.[6]
Some Cambodian recipes published in the United States use Knorr's powdered tamarind soup base instead of tamarind pulp.[7] The recipe site Zaffaron points to Longteine de Monteiro's Cambodian cooking, including The Elephant Walk Cookbook (1998) with Katherine Neustadt, as a record of how kroeung pastes and prahok shape everyday Khmer soups.[3]
Ingredients and preparation
The paste for this soup is a yellow kroeung, sometimes called kroeung samlor machu. It commonly combines lemongrass, galangal, fresh turmeric, kaffir lime leaves, garlic and shallots.[5] Yellow kroeung is the most basic and versatile of the five main Cambodian herb and spice pastes.[2] Cooks traditionally pound the aromatics in a mortar so that their oils go into the paste.[5] The broth is bright yellow and smells of lemongrass and galangal.[5] Its sourness is usually fruity and mellow rather than sharp like vinegar, while the paste adds citrus, earthy and herbal notes.[5] Tamarind is the main souring agent, and green mango, sorrel leaves or a squeeze of lime juice can add to it.[5] For tamarind water, the pulp is softened in warm water, pressed through a sieve and the strained liquid added to the broth.[8] Vegetables go in by stages, firmer ones first, with tomatoes and fresh herbs near the end.[8]
The beef version, samlor machu kroeung sach ko, is made with sliced beef fillet, yellow kroeung, water spinach and eggplants, seasoned with fish sauce, prahok or both.[2][1] Grantourismo Travels makes it as a green soup led by morning glory, which is water spinach, or trorkuon in Khmer.[2] Its recipe marinates 300 grams (10.5 ounces) of beef tenderloin in yellow kroeung for 15 minutes, fries it quickly in oil and moves it to the soup pot with four cups (about 950 milliliters) of stock.[2] Beef stock gives a meatier taste and vegetable stock a greener one.[2] All the leaves and half the stems of 300 grams (10.5 ounces) of morning glory go into the pot, and the rest is blended with stock or water.[2] The soup is seasoned with two tablespoons of fish sauce or one of prahok, a tablespoon of salt, two tablespoons of palm sugar or brown sugar, and optional tamarind paste.[2] It simmers for 30 minutes to keep its green color and flavor and is served with finely sliced red chilies on the side.[2] It makes enough for four as a main dish.[2] For a meat-free version, the beef can be left out and more vegetables added, such as green beans, round eggplants or carrots.[2]
Zaffaron's version browns 900 grams (2 pounds) of beef short ribs for eight minutes and fries them with the kroeung for five minutes, until the oil turns golden from the turmeric.[3] Water is added, with 35 grams (1.2 ounces) of prahok dissolved in some of the hot broth, and the soup simmers partly covered for 70 minutes.[3] Tamarind paste, fish sauce and palm sugar go in next. The eggplant and green beans simmer for ten minutes and the water spinach for two, so it stays bright and a little crisp.[3] Culantro and lime juice are stirred in off the heat, and the soup should taste clearly sour, savory from the prahok, lightly sweet and fragrant with kroeung.[3] Kept at a simmer rather than a hard boil once the prahok is in, it is served with jasmine rice.[3] Beef chuck can stand in for short ribs, spinach for water spinach and anchovy paste for prahok.[3]
A chicken version sautés three to four tablespoons of kroeung in oil for one to two minutes, then adds 450 grams (1 pound) of chicken pieces and six cups (about 1.4 liters) of broth or water for 15 to 20 minutes.[5] It is seasoned with tamarind water, two tablespoons of fish sauce and a tablespoon of sugar, and fresh herbs are stirred in off the heat.[5] A fish version uses 680 grams (1.5 pounds) of catfish, or tilapia or cod, with green beans, Chinese eggplant, tomato, prahok and palm sugar. The fish simmers for four to six minutes until it flakes.[8] Thai basil, sawtooth coriander and rice paddy herb finish it, and it goes to the table at once with jasmine rice.[8]
History and origins
The soup belongs to a Khmer cooking tradition that balances salty, sweet, sour and bitter tastes.[9] Its savory depth can be strengthened with prahok, whose fermented flavor is central to Cambodian cooking.[9] Flavor365 sets samlor machu apart from Thai tom yum, which is sharper and relies on lime juice and whole herbs, and from Vietnamese canh chua, which lacks the kroeung paste.[5] Zaffaron sees in the soup the Cambodian balance between sour notes, herbs and fermented seasoning.[3]
Regional and household variations
Household recipes change with the season and with what the local market has.[5] Flavor365 names chicken or pork ribs as the usual meat for the kroeung version.[5] Zaffaron notes that some Cambodian households use pork ribs instead of beef for a richer, slightly sweeter broth, and that cooks near plentiful freshwater fish may use firm river fish with a much shorter simmer.[3] Banana blossom, taro stem or winged beans can replace the green beans in season.[3]
Mashed lists a version made with kroeung paste, beef ribs, beef tripe and coriander.[4] Grantourismo Travels, writing from Siem Reap, says the local version is very green, led by morning glory, and always comes with beef ribs or pieces of beef. The fish soup made there with krasaing, bell peppers, prahok, galangal and garlic is usually called samlor m'chou trakuon.[2]
Green kroeung can replace the yellow.[2] In Cambodia, the seeds of krasaing, or wood apple, are used in place of tamarind to sour the soup.[2] Some cooks put in dry-roasted sleuk kantrup and krasaing seeds near the end of cooking and remove them before the soup is served.[2] Across the wider family, samlor machu may be made with meat, fish or seafood, and some versions use pineapple.[10] Lighter fish versions have clearer broths that put more weight on the fish and the fermented seasoning.[5] Jasmine rice, fresh herbs and sometimes sliced chilies are served alongside.[8]
Preparations and recipes
- Lara Dunston, Grantourismo
- Sour beef and morning glory soup in which beef is marinated in yellow kroeung, seared, then simmered with stock, greens and sour seasonings.(partial instructions)
References 10
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 SBS Food, Leanne Kitchen and Liep Yong, Spicy sour beef with tamarind sauce (sam-loh machu kroeung sach koh) (June 25, 2015)
- ↑ 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 2.14 2.15 2.16 Grantourismo Travels, Sour Beef Soup With Morning Glory Recipe (April 5, 2020)
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 Zaffaron, Samlor Machu Kroeung Cambodian Sour Soup (August 25, 2026)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Mashed, Cambodian dishes to try (February 10, 2024)
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 Flavor365, What Is Cambodian Sour Soup? A Complete Guide (April 7, 2026)
- ↑ Phnom Penh Post, Rainy season: A Cambodian celebration of nature's bounty (September 17, 2024)
- ↑ SEAsite, Northern Illinois University, Samlor Machu Trey: Sweet and Sour Soup with Fish (undated)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Flavor365, Authentic Cambodian Sour Soup (Samlor Machu) (August 20, 2025)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 worldfoodwine.com, Khmer food - World Food and Wine
- ↑ Rainforest Cruises, Cambodian Food: 10 Traditional Dishes You Should Eat (February 15, 2022)
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