Trey Chamhoy Kroich Chhma — Steamed Fish with Lime & Garlic
ត្រីចំហុយក្រូចឆ្មារ
A whole fish steamed and drowned in a fierce lime, garlic, chilli, and green Kampot pepper sauce — the coast's cleanest, sharpest way with a fresh catch.
By Cambodian Cookbook Kitchen · June 27, 2026
កំពត Kampot, Kep & the CoastThe Modern Kingdom era, 1993–present
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Serves
- 4
- Level
- Intermediate
The whole coast agrees that the best thing you can do to a very fresh fish is very little, and trey chamhoy kroich chhma is the proof — a whole fish steamed until it just flakes, then drowned in a fierce sauce of lime, pounded garlic, chilli, and green Kampot pepper. It is a dish that belongs to the modern kingdom's confident, outward-looking cooking, the kind you find at the seafood shacks along the Kep and Kampot fronts where the fish is chosen live from a tank and the sauce is pounded to order. There is nothing archaic about it and nothing to hide behind: a clean steam and a loud sauce demand a genuinely good fish, which the Gulf, most days, obligingly provides.
The technique divides neatly in two. The fish wants gentleness — a hard, fast steam over lemongrass and ginger, pulled the instant the flesh turns opaque at the bone, because a minute too long trades silk for cotton. The sauce wants ferocity — lime bracing enough to make you blink, garlic and chilli pounded raw, fish sauce and a touch of palm sugar to hold it together, and fresh green peppercorns for that floral, juicy heat the coast can't leave out of anything. Steam the one, pound the other, and marry them only at the last second so the sauce stays raw and electric against the warm fish. Serve it whole, with rice underneath to catch what pools, and let the table dismantle it with spoons.
Steam the fish just to the point the flesh flakes at the bone and no further. The sauce is loud enough for both of you; the fish only has to be tender.
ពាក្យពីចុងភៅ · A word from the kitchen
Ingredientsគ្រឿងផ្សំ
Serves 4
០ of ១០ gathered
The fish
The lime-garlic sauce
Methodវិធីធ្វើ
Step 1: Prepare the fish
Slash the fish twice on each side down to the bone so it steams evenly and the sauce can reach the flesh. Lay it on the bruised lemongrass and ginger in a heatproof dish that fits your steamer — the aromatics lift the fish off the plate and perfume it from below.
Step 2: Pound the sauce
Pound the garlic and chilli to a rough paste, then stir in the lime juice, fish sauce, and palm sugar until the sugar dissolves. Taste: it should be punishingly sour and garlicky, sharp enough to make the fish sing rather than sit quietly.
Step 3: Steam hard and fast
Steam over rapidly boiling water eight to twelve minutes depending on thickness, until the flesh at the thickest slash turns opaque and flakes cleanly from the bone. Steaming keeps the flesh silky where frying would dry it — the coast's freshest fish deserves the gentlest cook.
Step 4: Drown and serve
Lift the fish to a serving platter, stir the green peppercorns into the sauce, and pour the whole fierce lot over the hot fish. Scatter coriander and serve immediately, with rice to soak up the sauce that pools beneath.
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 →Tiered steamer
សម្ភារៈចំហុយStacked tiers for amok cups, steamed cakes, and fish — gentle, even heat that sets custards without breaking them. A wide pot with a rack stands in.
Shop on Amazon →
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Questions from the kitchen
What fish should I use?
On the Kampot coast it's whatever came in that morning — sea bass, snapper, grouper, or a good-sized mackerel. Any firm whole fish 600 to 800 g works; the sauce is the constant. A whole fish steams more evenly and stays moister than fillets, so keep it whole if you can.
My sauce is too sour — how do I fix it?
Balance up, not down: add fish sauce a teaspoon at a time for salt and a little more palm sugar for roundness until it stops attacking and starts singing. It should still lead with sour — that's the dish — but salt and a whisper of sweet keep it from being merely sharp.
No steamer — can I do this another way?
A wide lidded pan with a rack or even a heatproof plate set on two balled-up pieces of foil over an inch of simmering water works fine. The goal is gentle, even, moist heat all around the fish; any setup that traps steam will get you there.
បន្ទាប់ · Cook next
