Burmese Samusa Soup

Once I managed to source the tamarind for this recipe, it was a cinch to pull together and the opportunities for substitutions abound as far as chile peppers, légumes and vegetables go.

A hearty, warm soup is exactly what was needed on day three of freezing temperatures and howling winds 💨 .

Such a comforting, zingy soup, you will be amazed at how good it is.

This is yet another recipe from Food & Wine, yes the same magazine that shows up miraculously in the mail box once a month! And no, I don't have a subscription 🤔.

I heavily adapted this recipe (see all my substitutions below), which apparently hails from a well known Burmese restaurant in San Francisco. You can find the recipe here.

After 20 minutes on the simmer, the soup is almost ready for the Brussels

Funnily enough I didn't order tamarind paste but tamarind concentrate instead, so I used 4 tsps of that instead of mixing the paste with water. I did not use the full two quarts of vegetable stock as it seemed like a lot of liquid. I only used 1 qt of stock and then about two cups of my homemade chicken stock (otherwise it would have been vegan!). I used a few small new potatoes instead of the russet. Thinly shaved Brussel sprouts instead of cabbage, which I threw in the soup about five minutes before serving. Oh, and I didn't have black mustard seeds so I used brown instead. Also, I squeezed half a lime in the soup at the end (probably could have used about half that).Oh, and I did not top with Samosas or falafel and I didn't add the Thai red chiles/Jalapeño at the end as it was already hot enough. Oh yes, and I used green lentils. I had green, brown and red, but no yellow lentils. And lastly, I think, I didn't have roasted chickpea flour, just regular! Even with all those minor changes, I'm convinced that the underlying flavour was not disrupted too much.