Cambodian · sauce/condiment

Prahok Ktis (Minced Pork and Coconut Dip with Fermented Fish)

Prahok Ktis (Minced Pork and Coconut Dip with Fermented Fish) reads umami 5.9, richness 5.7 and funk & ferment 5.0 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Cambodian sauce/condiment, about 49 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 7.1 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 5.5 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 3.5 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 0.9 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 6.3 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.6 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 5.9 · Richness 5.7 · Funk & Ferment 5.0 · Sweetness 4.6 · Allium 4.2 · Salinity 4.1 · Heat 3.2 · Sourness 3.0 · Fruity 2.9 · Marine & Briny 2.8 · Nutty 1.9 · Citrus 1.7 · Floral 1.1 · Warm Spice 0.9 · Earthy 0.8 · Bitterness 0.8 · Herbaceous 0.7

What's in it (13)

• pork — 300 g
• prahok — 44 g
• red kroeung paste — 44 g
• coconut cream — 368 g
• vegetable oil — 27 g
• shallots — 80 g
• garlic — 20 g
• brown sugar — 25 g
• fresh red chili pepper — 200 g
• tamarind juice — 15 g
• english cucumber — 200 g
• white cabbage — 150 g
• long beans — 100 g

Time & effort: about 49 min (44 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 162.9 kcal, 4.5 g protein, 9 g fat, 17 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

1. Mash the prahok with 3 tbsp water and push it through a fine sieve, discarding the bones and scales left behind. What comes through is a smooth grey-brown liquor that smells overwhelming in the jar and turns savoury and round the moment it is cooked in fat. Prahok is made from small freshwater fish crushed underfoot, salted and fermented for months, and it is not interchangeable with Thai kapi or Malay belacan, which are shrimp.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy pan over medium heat and fry the shallots and garlic for 5 minutes until soft and pale gold.
3. Add the red kroeung and fry 5 minutes more, stirring, until the paste darkens and the oil around it turns red.
4. Add the pork, break it up and cook 8 minutes over medium-high heat until it has lost all pink and begun to catch on the pan.
5. Pour in the coconut cream and the strained prahok, bring to a gentle simmer and cook 20 to 25 minutes over low heat, stirring often. The mixture will thin, then thicken, and finally split so that a clear layer of coconut oil rises and pools at the surface. That split is the finished point, not a fault; ktis means precisely this fried-in-its-own-oil state.
6. Stir in the palm sugar, tamarind water and sliced chilli and cook 3 minutes more. Taste: salty and deeply savoury first, then sweet, then a small sour lift, with the funk sitting under everything rather than on top.
7. Serve warm in a bowl set in the middle of the table with the raw cucumber, cabbage and long beans around it, and rice. Cambodians eat this as the salty anchor of a meal rather than as a starter.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Ceebu Jën (Thieboudienne) — Senegalese
• Coconut Shrimp with Sweet Chili Sauce — American
• Miyan Kuka (Baobab Leaf Soup) — Nigerian
• Tielle Sétoise — French · Languedoc
• Kansi (Beef Shank and Jackfruit Soup Soured with Batwan) — Filipino

Keep reading: what umami, richness, funk & ferment mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.