Samlor Machu Trey
សម្លម្ជូរត្រី
Samlor machu trey is the sour freshwater fish soup of the Tonlé Sap — bright with tamarind and lake herbs, built around a whole fish and a clear broth.
By Cambodian Cookbook Kitchen · May 12, 2026
ទន្លេសាប The Tonlé SapAngkor era, 802–1431
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Serves
- 4
- Level
- Intermediate
When Zhou Daguan catalogued Angkor's kitchens in 1296, he described a lake so thick with fish that they were taken by the boatload, and a people who ate them sour, salted and fresh in equal measure. Samlor machu trey is the fresh end of that ledger — the everyday soup of the floating villages, made from whatever came up in the net that morning and soured with tamarind from the yard. It is the Tonlé Sap eating itself, in the best sense: a clear broth, a whole fish, and a fistful of herbs that grow at the waterline. Every lake household has a version, and every one of them is correct.
The technique is nearly all restraint. The broth must be built and balanced before the fish arrives, because once the fish is in you cannot boil it to fix your seasoning without turning it to wool. Poach, don't boil; season early, taste often; add the herbs last and off the heat. Done right, the soup arrives bright and translucent, the fish barely set, the paddy herb rising off the bowl like the smell of the lake at dusk. It is a soup that tastes of a specific place and a specific hour, which is the highest thing a soup can do.
Sour soups live and die on balance — chase the tamarind with fish sauce and a pinch of palm sugar until the sourness has somewhere to land.
ពាក្យពីចុងភៅ · A word from the kitchen
Ingredientsគ្រឿងផ្សំ
Serves 4
០ of ១១ gathered
Broth and fish
Vegetables and herbs
Methodវិធីធ្វើ
Step 1: Build the sour base
Bring the water to a simmer with the lemongrass, garlic and strained tamarind. Let it cook ten minutes so the tamarind loses its raw edge and the lemongrass gives up its oils. This thin, sour broth is the whole backbone of a machu — get it tasting alive before the fish goes near it.
Step 2: Season for balance
Add the fish sauce and palm sugar and taste. You are looking for sour first, then salt, then a whisper of sweet underneath to round it — never sweet enough to notice, just enough that the sourness has a floor to sit on. Adjust before the fish, not after.
Step 3: Poach the fish gently
Slide in the fish steaks and head and keep the broth at a bare simmer. Freshwater fish turns to cotton if it boils hard, so let it poach for eight to ten minutes until just opaque at the bone. Skim any foam that rises for a clear, clean broth.
Step 4: Finish with tomato and greens
Add the tomatoes and chillies, then the lake greens, and cook only two or three minutes so everything stays bright and distinct. Kill the heat, throw in the paddy herb and sawtooth coriander, and let the residual heat release their scent. Serve at once, over rice.
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 →
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Questions from the kitchen
What makes a machu different from other Khmer soups?
Machu simply means sour — the family is defined by its acid, usually tamarind, sometimes lime or fermented rice. Machu trey is the fish version, kept deliberately clear and light where a samlor korko is thick and a samlor proher is herbal and dense.
Do I need the lake herbs specifically?
They make it the Tonlé Sap's soup rather than a generic sour broth, so use rice-paddy herb and sawtooth coriander if your market has them. If not, lean on ordinary coriander and a little extra lemongrass — honest, if less local.
Can I use fish fillets to skip the bones?
You can, but the head and bones are where the broth gets its body — a machu made from fillet alone tastes thin. If you fillet the fish, at least simmer the frame in the broth first and lift it out before serving.
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