Miang Kham (เมี่ยงคำ) – Leaf Wraps with Coconut and Lime

You eat miang kham with your hands. You roll a wild betel leaf into a cone, fill it with a pinch of toasted shredded coconut, diced lime with the peel, ginger, shallot, chili, peanuts and dried shrimp and add a drop of thick sauce. Then you put the whole package in your mouth at once. In one bite you taste sweet, sour, salty, hot and the bitterness of the lime peel.

By Laura Chen· November 4, 2026

45 Mintotal

4servings

310kcal

ThaiCuisine ›

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You cook the sauce down from palm sugar, fish sauce, shrimp paste, galangal, lemongrass and coconut until it runs off the spoon like honey. It keeps for a week in the fridge. Arrange the ingredients in small dishes on a platter, and everyone at the table fills their own leaf. Cut the lime with its peel into small cubes.

Wild betel is called cha plu in Thailand. You cook the mushroom curry with betel leaves with the same leaves. In Vietnam, cooks wrap ground beef in them and grill it as Bò Lá Lốt. Som Tam Thai fits as a second starter.

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Miang Kham (เมี่ยงคำ) – Leaf Wraps with Coconut and Lime

Name: Miang Kham (เมี่ยงคำ) – Leaf Wraps with Coconut and Lime
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 1 tsp shrimp paste (kapi); 10 g galangal, chopped; 1 stalk lemongrass, light part only, chopped; 1 shallot, chopped; 1 tbsp dried shrimp; 2 tbsp shredded coconut; 80 g palm sugar, chopped; 2 tbsp fish sauce; 150 ml water; 40 g shredded coconut; 1 organic lime; 30 g fresh ginger, peeled; 2 shallots; 2 red Thai chilies, in rings; 50 g roasted peanuts; 25 g dried shrimp; 24 wild betel leaves (cha plu)

Laura Chen

Servings

Prep time

30 minutes

Cook time

15 minutes

Calories

310

Cuisine

Thai

Ingredients

For the sauce:

1 tsp shrimp paste (kapi)
10 g galangal, chopped
1 stalk lemongrass, light part only, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1 tbsp dried shrimp
2 tbsp shredded coconut
80 g palm sugar, chopped
2 tbsp fish sauce
150 ml water

For the wraps:

40 g shredded coconut
1 organic lime
30 g fresh ginger, peeled
2 shallots
2 red Thai chilies, in rings
50 g roasted peanuts
25 g dried shrimp
24 wild betel leaves (cha plu)

Instructions

Toast all the shredded coconut (40 g plus 2 tbsp) in a dry pan over medium heat for 5 minutes until golden brown, stirring constantly. Set 2 tbsp aside for the sauce.
Wrap the shrimp paste in aluminum foil and toast the packet in the pan for 2 minutes.
Pound the shrimp paste, galangal, lemongrass, shallot, 1 tbsp shrimp and 2 tbsp coconut in a mortar into a paste.
Bring the paste to a boil in a small pot with the palm sugar, fish sauce and water and simmer for 10 minutes, until the sauce runs thick like honey off the spoon. Let it cool.
Cut the lime with its peel, the ginger and the shallots into 5 mm cubes.
Put the coconut, lime, ginger, shallots, chili, peanuts and shrimp in separate small dishes. Wash the leaves and pat them dry.
To eat, shape a leaf into a cone, fill it with a pinch of each ingredient, add 1/2 tsp sauce and eat the bite in one go.

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Miang Kham (เมี่ยงคำ) – Leaf Wraps with Coconut and Lime

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