Bai Sach Chrouk
បាយសាច់ជ្រូក
Cambodia's most-loved breakfast — charcoal-grilled marinated pork over broken rice, with a bowl of clear broth and a heap of quick pickles.
By Cambodian Cookbook Kitchen · May 11, 2026
ភ្នំពេញ Phnom PenhIndependence & Sangkum era, 1953–1970
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Serves
- 4
- Level
- Beginner
If Cambodia has a national breakfast, this is it. Bai sach chrouk — literally rice, meat, pork — is thin slices of marinated pork grilled over charcoal and laid over a mound of soft broken rice, with quick pickles, a fried egg and a small bowl of clear broth on the side. It is a Phnom Penh street scene as much as a recipe: the smoke of the grills at first light, the tin plates, the aunty turning the pork with a pair of long chopsticks. Its confident modern form belongs to the Sangkum years, when the capital's restaurants and cart cooks codified the city's everyday cooking into the plates Cambodians still order by name.
The magic is in the marinade and the rice. Coconut water tenderizes the pork and helps it lacquer to a dark, sweet edge over the coals, while palm sugar and fish sauce do the seasoning. Broken rice — long dismissed as the cheap cut — is the correct choice, cooked soft so it drinks up the pork's juices. Get the pickle sharp enough to cut the richness, keep the broth clear and hot, and you have the breakfast that gets a whole country out the door.
Coconut water in the marinade is the trick nobody tells you — it tenderizes and lacquers the pork to that dark, sweet edge you get from a street cart.
ពាក្យពីចុងភៅ · A word from the kitchen
Ingredientsគ្រឿងផ្សំ
Serves 4
០ of ១៥ gathered
Pork and marinade
Rice and table
Quick pickle (chao)
Broth on the side
Methodវិធីធ្វើ
Step 1: Marinate overnight
Whisk coconut water, fish sauce, palm sugar, garlic, soy and pepper, then turn the pork through it and refrigerate overnight. Give it eight hours minimum — the sugar and coconut water need time to do their work.
Step 2: Make the pickle
Toss carrot and daikon with vinegar, sugar and salt and leave for at least thirty minutes. It should taste sharp and barely sweet, the crisp counterweight to all that lacquered pork.
Step 3: Cook the broken rice
Rinse the broken rice twice and cook it slightly wetter than usual so it stays soft and clumps a little. Keep it warm and covered while you grill.
Step 4: Grill over charcoal
Grill the pork over medium-hot charcoal, two to three minutes a side, until the edges blacken and the sugar caramelizes. A hot pan works, but you will miss the smoke that makes this breakfast what it is.
Step 5: Plate it
Mound broken rice on the plate, lay the sliced pork over it, and add a fried egg, cucumber and tomato. Serve the pickle and the little bowl of clear broth alongside — that broth is not optional to a Khmer breakfast.
ឧបករណ៍ · The tools
Equipment
Granite mortar & pestle
ត្បាល់THE Cambodian tool. Kroeung is pounded, never blended — the stone bruises fibre and oil out of lemongrass and galangal in a way a blade only chops. Buy the heaviest one you can lift.
Shop on Amazon →Spider strainer
ចម្រងLift blanched noodles, fried shallots, and spring rolls clean out of hot water or oil in one scoop, before they overcook or turn soft.
Shop on Amazon →Charcoal grill
ចង្ក្រានអាំងCambodian grilling is charcoal grilling — sach ko ang, grilled fish, skewers. The smoke is half the flavour, and a small clay or steel grill is all you need.
Shop on Amazon →Charcoal brazier (angkeng)
ចង្ក្រានឆ្នាំងThe traditional bucket-shaped clay-and-metal stove that holds a small charcoal fire — for cooking outdoors, hot-pot at the table, or coaxing the slow, smoky heat older recipes assume.
Shop on Amazon →
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Questions from the kitchen
What is broken rice and can I use regular rice?
Broken rice is exactly what it sounds like — grains fractured during milling, once the cheaper cut and now prized for this dish. It cooks up soft and slightly sticky. You can use jasmine rice, but the texture is genuinely different, so try to find the real thing.
No charcoal — is it still worth making?
Yes. A cast-iron pan or a hot grill pan gets you most of the way, and the marinade carries plenty of flavor on its own. But if you ever get the chance to grill it over coals, you will understand the fuss.
Why serve broth with a rice plate?
The little bowl of clear broth is standard across Khmer rice breakfasts — you sip it between bites to reset the palate and loosen the rich, sweet pork. Skip it and the plate feels heavier than it should.
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