Cambodian Num Pang Recipe (w/ Grilled Pork)

Making Pickled Daikon & Carrot at Home in 10 minutes

Need a more in-depth recipe? Read my recipe here.

Slice a 50/50 mix of daikon and carrots into matchsticks – roughly 2 cups of each.

Once sliced, add to a large bowl and salt with 1 tbsp of kosher salt for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, dump water that has drained from veggies and then rinse with water and drain again.

Bring the following mixture to a boil and then take off heat:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• 4 tbsp white sugar
• 1.5 tbsp kosher salt

Take daikon and carrots and add to mason jar.

Ladle brine liquid into jar.

Allow jar to cool and then store in refrigerator overnight.

Slicing and Marinating Garlic & Ginger Pork

Do this on the same day as you pickle the daikon and carrots.

If you need a more in-depth guide for this section, follow my recipe.

Take a whole pork tenderloin out of the package and pat dry with paper towel.

Slice pork tenderloin against the grain to roughly 1/8″ – 1/4″ thick.

Once sliced, put into a ziplock bag.

Make Garlic & Ginger Marinade:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 3 tbsp low sodium, soy sauce
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp evaporated cane sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tbsp peeled, grated ginger

Once combined, add to the ziplock bag with the pork and massage the marinade into the meat.

Allow to marinate for at least 6 hours, ideally overnight.

While the meat marinates, soak bamboo skewers in water.

Skewer and Grill Pork

You want to loosely put the pork onto the skewers in a sort of weaving pattern.

Don’t stack the meat as this will only make it tougher and take longer to cook.

Get your grill to around 350-400F.

I’m using a charcoal grill with an elevated cooking grate.

The goal here is to brown the meat and not entirely char it.

What I like to do is grill on one side for 1 minute, then flip and repeat this process until I’m happy with the meat.

The total cook time is roughly 8-12 minutes.

Slice Cucumber and Make Siracha Mayo

Peel a cucumber and slice in half.

Then slice these into thin, flat strips.

To Make Mayo Siracha

Combine in a bowl:

• 3 tbsp Mayo
• 1 tsp Siracha
• 1 tbsp water

You want a slightly loose consistency.

Take Pork off Skewer and then Slice the Length of the Pork

Here’s a picture to describe this:

You’re just making the meat even more tender and easier to chew.

Make Num Pang Sandwich with All of Your Ingredients

Before assembling, set oven to 350F.

Place whole baguette in oven for 2-3 minutes until warm.

1. Slice a small baguette in half.
2. Put your mayo-siracha on both slices of the baguette.
3. Then put on a generous amount of meat to the bottom bun.
4. Top this with your pickled daikon and carrots, then sliced cucumber.
5. Then top everything off and enjoy!

The inspiration for this sandwich comes from a local Cambodian spot in the town where I grew up – Phnom Penh.

My sandwich tastes about as close as you can come without knowing their exact Family recipe.