This Cambodian chicken rice porridge recipe makes borbor sach moan, Cambodian congee. Called borbor sach moan in Khmer, it’s thought that this chicken rice porridge is a dish of Chinese origin and part of the Cambodian-Chinese culinary heritage rather than a Khmer dish, but no matter its provenance it’s become a comfort food favourite of all Cambodians.
One of our best breakfast rice recipes and one my favourite Cambodian recipes, this Cambodian chicken rice porridge recipe for borbor sach moan makes a Cambodian congee that I’ve been making since we first moved to Cambodia‘s Siem Reap back in 2013. If you enjoy this, you’ll also love this borbor sor with pork meatballs.
Once a breakfast dish, the Cambodian take on Chinese congee is a classic Cambodian comfort food favourite eaten at any time of the day. Cambodians tuck into big bowls of borbor for breakfast, brunch, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner (particularly if someone isn’t feeling well), and a late night supper (and hangover cure).
Called borbor sach moan in Khmer, this chicken congee is thought to be a dish of Chinese origin and part of the Cambodian-Chinese culinary heritage rather than a Khmer dish, but whatever its provenance, over many centuries it’s become a comfort food staple for all Cambodians – as well as Cambodian residents, including ourselves.
Cambodians have really made the classic Chinese rice porridge their own. Here in Siem Reap you’ll find anything from chicken, pork, fish, dried fish, seafood, snails, and frog legs in borbor and you’ll also see an array of condiments, from dried fish floss and pickled vegetables to the condiments we love to use: fish sauce, chilli flakes, chilli oil, and fresh fragrant herbs.
Now, before I tell you more about our Cambodian chicken rice porridge recipe, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve cooked our recipes and enjoyed them, please consider supporting Grantourismo by using links on our site to buy something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers or classic cookbooks for serious cooks. Now let me tell you all about our Cambodian chicken rice porridge recipe.
Cambodian Chicken Rice Porridge Recipe – How to Make Borbor Sach Moan
The most important piece of advice we can give you when it comes to making this Cambodian chicken rice porridge recipe is to use a good quality chicken stock, whether it’s homemade or store-bought, as this is the flavour base of the dish.
A bland chicken stock or, alternatively, a salty commercial chicken stock is not going to do the dish any favours – or flavours (sorry). As the stock is a crucial element to a rice porridge, we prefer to make homemade chicken stock, so let’s start with the chicken stock.
How to Make a Homemade Chicken Stock with Southeast Asian Flavours
My favourite way to make a chicken stock with Southeast Asian leanings is to start with a base of chicken bones that have been blanched, then add some carrots and coriander roots to a pot filled with cold water.
Add lemongrass (a whole stick of lemongrass tied in a knot), star anise, a cinnamon stick, slices of ginger and galangal, and a kaffir lime leaf or two, and bring it to the boil, then simmer for about an hour.
You’ll need to skim any impurities from the surface of the simmering stock every now and again. A bonus: your abode will smell heavenly – like a cross between a Cambodian grandma’s kitchen and a luxurious spa.
Many Cambodians will use a whole chicken to make the chicken stock and the resulting borbor sach moan. If you are making this Cambodian rice porridge for a family, sure, go ahead and use a whole chicken.
Because we are just making our Cambodian chicken rice porridge for four people – or rather, two people who will eat it twice (in reality, I’ll eat a bowl the first time we make it, and Lara will polish off the remaining three portions, as she’s addicted to the stuff) – we’re using the chicken breasts until they are just cooked, at 74˚C. Make sure to use a digital kitchen thermometer so they’re not over-done.
Remove the chicken breasts when they’re cooked and set them aside to cool and do one last skim to remove impurities.
When your chicken stock is emitting alluring aromas of lemongrass, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, galangal, and kaffir lime, your rice porridge is going to be amazing – especially after you’ve added condiments to your own personal taste.
More Tips to Making Borbor Sach Moan
After you make the chicken stock, you’ll add the rice to the stock to make your Cambodian chicken rice porridge.
When it comes to garnishes and condiments, while crunchy fried garlic is one of the most popular local garnishes for a Cambodian chicken rice porridge here in Siem Reap – and Lara is a fan – I actually prefer to use fried shallots as I think it’s more people-friendly.
Now, while you’ll probably find some chilli flakes, chilli oil and other condiments, such as fish sauce, salt, sugar, and so on, in a tray in front of you when you’re served Cambodian chicken rice porridge in Cambodia, when we’re making borbor sach moan at home I prefer to add condiments to the finished bowl of borbor before presenting it to Lara or guests.
If I’m dishing up this Cambodian chicken rice porridge at home, to the finished bowls of borbor sach moan I’ll usually add a splash of quality fish sauce.
We like to use local Cambodian fish sauces for Cambodian dishes, but you’re unlikely to find those outside Cambodia. We recommend the Thai fish sauce brand Megachef, although we know that our American readers love the American-Vietnamese brand Red Boat.
Now while you probably will have some chilli flakes and chilli paste in your condiment tray when you eat this for breakfast in Cambodia, we prefer to add some chilli oil to the finished plate.
But that’s the fun about this dish. As with a lot of Asian dishes, like Vietnam’s phở, you personalise your toppings to suit your taste.
Cambodian Chicken Rice Porridge Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 g chicken breast - fresh, skin off
- 2 l water - fresh, home-made
- 300 g jasmine rice - rinsed and drained
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp fish sauce - to taste
- 1 head round lettuce - cut into long thin strips
- 100 g bean sprouts
- ground pepper - to taste
- 2 tbsp chilli oil
- 1 bunch coriander
- 1 bunch sawtooth coriander
- 1 tbsp fried garlic
Instructions
- Make the stock first: to a large soup pot, pour in the water and chicken breasts. Cook over medium heat until the breasts are fully cooked, at 70°C (158°F). Remove the breasts from the stock and set aside to cool. Skim off any impurities that rise to the surface of the stock.
- Add the rice and salt to the stock. Reduce heat to medium-low and leave to cook for around 20 minutes, until rice is tender but still has a little bite.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning by adding fish sauce. Remove the pot from the heat.
- When the chicken has cooled a little, shred the chicken breast meat with two forks.
- Place lettuce leaves and some of the bean sprouts at the bottom of the serving bowls. Ladle the congee into bowls and top with shredded chicken. Season with pepper and garnish with fresh aromatic herbs and fried garlic. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Do let us know if you make our Cambodian chicken rice porridge recipe as we’d love to know how our borbor sach moan recipe turns out for you. And if you are a fan of congee, we’d love to hear what you love about it.
Hi Lara, I was reading this post and saw you mention MegaChef fish sauce..I was so excited to see the fish sauce bottle in one of your recent behind the scenes photos. I love this brand !! using the Soy, Fish and the Anchovy..have never used anything else since reading about the conception of the brand in either Gourmet Traveller or Vogue Entertaining many moons ago.
Its prompted me to ask you if you could do a story on the company and perhaps uses. The Anchovy in particular as Im using it in western cooking ie Bolognase sauce for that real depth of salt .
Mega Chef is much more widely available in Australia than it ever used to and Id love to see the brand supported as the flavours are beyond compare.
Thanks for your ongoing inspiring visuals, recipes and stories on Vietnam, Thailand and wider Asia regions. Cant wait for your Cambodia Cookbook to come out but especially cant wait to visit the places you’re both so passionate about. Keep being inspiring ✈️??
Hi Michelle, thank you for this message and I spotted the other one and responded there to. We’re big fans of Mega Chef also and have probably used it for as long as we’ve been cooking Thai food – which is about 35 years. We have long used that and the Squid brand, which a lot of Thai chefs and cooking instructors also use and recommend, although I believe it was David Thompson who convinced us that Mega Chef was superior.
We always use it for Thai recipes, as it’s so consistent in quality and has that umami-ness and depth of salt that you also love. Terence and I often mention in the Cambodian recipe posts that we try to use local Cambodian fish sauces here in Siem Reap, but they aren’t as readily available internationally. Plus they are produced in very rustic, local, small-batch workshops so the consistency is not always there. Which is why we recommend Mega Chef to readers. Pleased to hear it’s more widely available in Australia too these days, as we may be returning next year – after 22 years overseas!
And thank you for the story idea – I wish more readers would tell us what they want us to write about! I have actually been planning a story on the history of fish sauce use in Australia as I was very disappointed to see Palisa Anderson write in a piece in the Guardian recently that it was suddenly hip for “white ladies and gentlemen” to write fish sauce into their recipes. Not only has our generation been using fish sauce for 35 years, but Australians have been using fish sauce forever. So we’ll happily accept your challenge and expand the scope. I might even do a series… look out for those!
By the way, Terence included Mega Chef fish sauce in this post on our Asian Pantry Essentials: https://grantourismotravels.com/asian-pantry-essentials/
Thank you so much for dropping by and for the kind words.
excellent and perfect recipe of the week
Thank you, Richard. Much appreciated :)