Pickled lime soup (Ngam ngov)

Ngam ngov is a traditional sour soup that is typically made with preserved lime, meat, green onions, fried garlic, fish sauce, sugar, and sea salt. Apart from the tart flavor imparted by the preserved lime, the soup gets a pleasant fragrance from makrut lime leaves and a spicy kick from red chilis.

A typical Cambodian wedding dish, the soup is traditionally prepared with duck, although these days it most commonly features chicken or pork. Ngam ngov is usually topped with some freshly chopped cilantro or culantro on top, and it is typically accompanied by steamed white rice.

This zesty-flavored soup embraces the sourness that is an all-too-familiar and highly appreciated flavor by the Cambodian palate and an unmistakable trait of Cambodian cuisine.