Burmese Samosa Soup

Had dinner at a wonderful Burmese restaurant (Rangoon Ruby) in Palo Alto. Its a very crowded place. After a little bit of wait we got in and ordered this soup with other dishes. It was the first time for me trying Burmese cuisine. The warm soup was so comforting and full of familiar flavors.

Burmese cuisine is heavily influenced by Indian cuisine, Chinese cuisine and Thai cuisine. Burmese samosas served with the soup were a mini version of the Indian samosa. The samosas had a crunchy thin covering and the filling was made with potatoes, peas and carrots seasoned with cumin, chili and turmeric.

This is a spicy lentil-based soup, made with cabbage and served over chunks of samosas and falafels. Samosa and falafels add to the wonderful texture of the soup. The taste was lingering in my mouth for days. I kept looking on the internet for the recipe and I came across this wonderful recipe on Spiceinfused. I made the soup using the ingredients I had at home and didn’t have time to shop for a few of the ingredients that was in the recipe. The soup turned out so tasty, the protein rich soup recipe instantly was declared a keeper :).

Ingredients

toor dhal 1 cup
water 4 cups
ghee 2 tbsp
onion 1, thinly sliced
green chili 2, finely chopped
coriander seeds 1 tbsp
cumin seeds 1 tbsp
black peppercorns 1 tsp
turmeric 2 tsp
red chili flakes 1 tsp or dried red chilies 2, broken in halves
shredded cabbage 2 cups
bell pepper (red & green) julienned 1/2 cup
vegetable broth 6 cups
tamarind paste 1 tsp
garam masala 1 tsp
salt to taste
mini samosas 10 (used store bought)
falafels 10 (can use store bought/ homemade)

for garnish
chopped cilantro 1/2 cup
chopped spring onions 1/2 cup
lemon wedges

Method

Cook the toor dhal in pressure cooker/stove top/instant pot till done in 4 cups of water. Mash it completely and set aside.
Dry roast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and black peppercorns in a dry skillet, over medium-low heat until just fragrant and grind into a fine powder once completely cooled.
In a pan add ghee, onion, finely chopped green chillies, and fry on low heat until onions just begin to brown.
Mix in the ground dry-roasted coriander, cumin and pepper powder.
Add the turmeric, and red chili flakes/dried red chili.
Increase heat to medium and fry together for a few minutes.
Stir in the shredded cabbage, bell pepper and fry for about 5 mins until cabbage loses its raw look.
Add vegetable stock, the tamarind paste, and the cooked dal with its liquid. Adjust consistency with additional vegetable broth depending on how thick or thin you like your soup.
Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 mins.
Finally add garam masala, and salt to taste.
Note: as the cooked broth with lentils over a period will start to thicken up, can add more vegetable broth to thin it down.

assembling the soup
Warm the mini samosas in the oven along with falafel as per package instructions.
In the soup bowls, place 2 samosas, cut into halves and add 2 crumbled falafel.
Pour warm cooked broth over the samosa and falafel.
Garnish with lemon wedge, cilantro and spring onions.

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