Ngam Ngov Mojito
Tradition in the jar. A new experience in the glass.
The classic mojito is rum, lime, mint, sugar and soda. Ours keeps that shape and swaps the sugar syrup for Ngam Ngov syrup, made from Cambodian preserved lime.
Ngam Ngov brings something a fresh wedge cannot. The glass is still light and still refreshing, but the citrus arrives with depth and a little salt behind it, and the flavor is unmistakably Cambodian.
- Prep
- 5 min
- Cook
- Serves
- 1
- Level
- Easy
Ingredients
For one 16 oz glass
- 45 mlwhite rum
- 30 mlNgam Ngov syrup
- 10 mlfresh lime juice
- 8–10fresh mint leaves
- 100–120 mlsoda water
- to fillcrushed ice
- 1 sprigfresh mint, to finish
- 1fresh lime or Ngam Ngov, to garnishoptional
The Ngam Ngov syrup is already sweetened, so there is no sugar and no simple syrup anywhere in this drink.
Method
- 1
Add the mint leaves, Ngam Ngov syrup and fresh lime juice straight into the glass.
- 2
Press the mint gently, two or three times. The point is to release its scent — crushed hard, the leaves turn bitter and the drink tastes grassy.
- 3
Pour in the white rum and fill the glass with crushed ice.
- 4
Top with 100–120 ml of soda water, then stir from the bottom of the glass so the syrup is carried through the whole drink.
- 5
Add a little more crushed ice if it needs it, and finish with a sprig of fresh mint.
The starting formula
- 45 mlwhite rum
- 30 mlNgam Ngov syrup
- 10 mlfresh lime juice
- 8–10fresh mint leaves
- 100–120 mlsoda water
How much syrup goes in depends on how sweet and how concentrated the jar is. To make the preserved lime speak louder, take the syrup up to around 35 ml rather than adding more fresh lime.
A regular mojito takes almost all of its citrus from fresh lime. Ngam Ngov adds another layer on top of it.
Citrus freshness → sweetness → preserved-lime depth → a slight saltiness → mint → rum.
That small savory finish is the part a plain mojito never has, and it is what stops the drink tasting like one more sweet citrus cocktail. It also means the syrup is doing more than standing in for sugar — it is the ingredient the drink is built around.
Ngam Ngov is usually spoken of in the kitchen — soups, braises, food kept through a season — but citrus, salt, sweetness and a long cure make it worth pouring into a glass as well.
This drink is one example of a familiar Cambodian flavor put to work in a form it has never had, without losing what it was. The point is not to rebuild a mojito with another lime syrup. It is to let the preserved lime be the reason the drink exists.