Kroeung

What is Kroeung?

Kroeung is not one spice but a family of fragrant pastes that Cambodian cooks pound to start a dish. Fresh lemongrass, kaffir lime zest and leaves, galangal, turmeric, garlic, shallots and dried red chillies form the core, with rhizomes such as lesser galangal, fingerroot and Kaempferia galanga joining as the cook chooses. Everything is chopped small and ground together, traditionally in a heavy mortar and pestle, into a smooth paste. Every paste falls into one of three colours: red, green or yellow, each named for whichever ingredient dominates it. Many Khmer dishes carry the suffix -kroeung to show the paste is inside.

Where does Kroeung come from?

Kroeung is the foundation of Cambodian, or Khmer, cooking, and the word itself is Khmer. The pastes belong to the home kitchen first: an everyday yellow kroeung seasons the common sour stew known as samlor machu kroeung. A second strand runs through royal cooking, where a standardised paste called royal kroeung, drawn from the recipes of royal dishes, adds coriander and kaffir lime leaves to the base. Cooks have carried the habit abroad: where kaffir limes cannot be found, Cambodian communities overseas pound lime leaves into the paste instead of the sun-dried rind used at home.

What does Kroeung taste like?

Flavour shifts with the colour. Red kroeung's deep tint comes from a soaked, dehydrated chilli pod that adds almost no taste of its own; because red dishes are meant to be spicy, cooks may pound in hotter chillies as well. Green kroeung draws on lemongrass leaves and, in some versions, prahok, a fermented fish paste. Yellow kroeung leans on turmeric. Some ingredients go in purely for colour, and an uncooked paste often changes shade as it cooks; a yellow-based stew turns greenish in the pot. Roasted ground rice can lend a smoky note to certain soups.

How Kroeung is grown and processed

Making kroeung is hands-on work. Dried chillies for red kroeung are soaked, seeded and drained; lemongrass stalks are sliced thin and galangal and turmeric diced. Kaffir lime zest, the whole rind dried in the sun, is cut into narrow strips, while the leaves are deveined and finely chopped. The ingredients then go into the mortar in a set order: zest or leaves first, pounded smooth, then chilli, lemongrass, galangal and turmeric until the paste turns deep red, and finally garlic and shallots. For curries, whole spices are traditionally ground in with the herbs. Modern kitchens may use a food processor instead.

How Kroeung is used

Kroeung is the starting point of the pot: colour pastes go into stuffings, soups and stir-fries. The everyday yellow kroeung bases samlor machu kroeung, a sour stew built on fatty pork, usually ribs, with winter melon or papaya, tamarind for sourness and water spinach. Fish amok uses a red kroeung base that omits turmeric in favour of extra kaffir lime leaves. Green kroeung normally leans on lemongrass leaves over stalks, with rhizome, cinnamon, galangal and turmeric; add prahok and it becomes teuk kroeung, a dip for fresh or lightly blanched vegetables eaten alongside rice. Dishes needing their own paste get one: samlar kakou adds roasted ground rice to its kroeung.

Kroeung in the world's kitchens

The paste defines Khmer cooking in Cambodia, and dishes made with it are often given the suffix -kroeung. Two streams run through the tradition. Individual kroeung is pounded for one dish alone, with extra ingredients that suit it, and is treated as unique to that recipe. Royal kroeung is standardised, the paste of the royal dishes, varied only by coriander and kaffir lime leaves. Overseas, Cambodian cooks keep the habit alive, substituting lime leaves for zest when kaffir limes cannot be found outside Southeast Asia.

What to use instead of Kroeung

Swaps are built into the tradition. For curries that call for whole spices ground into the herb paste, curry powder may stand in, though the paste then counts as individual kroeung. Outside Cambodia and the rest of Southeast Asia, where kaffir limes are scarce, cooks use the leaves instead of the sun-dried zest. A food processor can replace the mortar and pestle, and roasted ground rice goes in where a soup wants smokiness.

Meal

Kroeung cooking is everyday eating. Yellow kroeung seasons the ubiquitous samlor machu kroeung, a stew of pork ribs, winter melon or papaya and water spinach that appears in common daily dishes. Teuk kroeung, the green prahok dip, is set out with rice and raw or briefly blanched vegetables, either as a side or as the meal itself. Curries, soups and stir-fries built on the paste fit the midday and evening table.

Questions people ask about Kroeung

Good reading and sources

• Kroeung on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data