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Pepper-Lime Dipping Sauce (Tuk Meric)
In Cambodia, the tangy, salty, peppery dipping sauce called tuk meric typically is paired with the stir-fry called loc lac, but we find that it goes equally well with simply seasoned and grilled shrimp, chicken, beef or vegetables. Toasting the peppercorns in a dry skillet until lightly smoking brings out their pleasantly sharp flavor, enhances their spicy aroma and slightly crisps their texture.
⅓
Cup
Tip
Don't use pre-ground pepper, even if coarsely ground. Start with whole peppercorns and make sure they're fresh, then use a mortar and pestle to coarsely crack them. Pulsing in a spice grinder works, too, but yields an inconsistent texture.
10 minutes
Ingredients
-
¼
cup black peppercorns, coarsely cracked
-
¼
cup lime juice
Reviews
July 3, 2025
Intense, uses sparingly
Really unexpected. Intense flavor with pepper. I might try using less pepper next time. Everyone enjoy this, but used it sparingly.
July 21, 2026
Not a fan
I’m sorry to give three stars, as this recipe is pretty straightforward, so not really fair to “rate it. ” I’m just pointing out that if it sounds like straight peppercorns, it is, there isn’t a lot else going on, and you aren’t missing anything by not making it with the steak. I thought maybe I’d be surprised by some interesting bold flavor as a sauce, but didn’t really find it here, so my vote is “pass” unless you are a big time peppercorn fan.
July 15, 2024
CURIOUSLY POTENT
I love black pepper so I buy Penzey’s Xtra Bold style to make myself happy. I was curious about this sauce but decided to make a half recipe of it to dip the cilantro-lime grilled skirt steak in. Use a splatter screen or lid when heating your peppercorns because mine started popping when we hit the smoking stage - you have been warned! LOL I used my mortar, but had dumped all of the peppercorns in at once so as I cracked the peppercorns some became more ground up. Next time, I would add just a few at a time to minimize that the peppercorns would get too ground up. Because some of the peppercorns got too ground up - it seemed like those absorbed the lime juice so that the sauce tended to become pasty as it sat. I just added more lime juice. This sauce is NOT for those who do not like strong flavors. Luckily, I do! It was good lightly applied to the steak, but having tasted it now totally agree with William’s comment that it could overpower delicate flavors of seafood. Also, since I use the Xtra Bold pepper - I would reduce the amount of peppercorns used by a forth next time. Try this with your next grilled steak or grilled veggies for something different!
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I had this with the grilled skewered cilantro-lime shrimp and while I really enjoyed the shrimp recipe, I was not that impressed with the Tuk Meric dipping sauce. While it might go well with the grilled Cilantro-lime skirt steak recipe, I was not a fan of this dipping sauce with shrimp/seafood. I would suggest the following recipe with the grilled shrimp instead. It is a Thai seafood dipping sauce that goes great with fish and seafood that I discovered from Mark Wiens vlogsite although I have made some slight modifications:
15 cloves garlic and 15 Thai "bird" chilis (which is not the usual Thai chilis you find at most grocers) pounded in a mortar and pestle for 5 minutes until completely pulverized
6 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons fish sauce (Please use "Red Boat" brand or better yet "Blis" which you can buy directly from Milkstreet). Blis is the bomb!
2 tablespoons raw turbinado sugar
Mix all of the above ingredients in a small mixing bowl and provide each person with a small dipping bowl for thier seafood, some steamed rice and veggies and/or a salad as sides.
Enjoy!