Name: Hearty Pork and Vegetable Soup
Yield: Serves 4 or 5
Cuisine: Myanmar (Burma)
Ingredients: About 4 cups loosely packed coarsely chopped bok choi, Napa cabbage, or Taiwan bok choi, or substitute 3 cups loosely packed chopped Swiss chard or romaine lettuce; 1 stalk lemongrass, trimmed and smashed (optional); ½ teaspoon fermented shrimp paste (ngapi); 2 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil; 5 cups light vegetable broth, chicken broth, or water; ½ pound pork shoulder or other boneless pork, such as tenderloin; Salt; ½ cup sliced shallots; ¼ teaspoon turmeric; 1 tablespoon minced ginger; 2 tablespoons tamarind pulp, cut into chunks; 1 cup hot water

Preparation info

Serves
4 or 5

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Burma

By Naomi Duguid

Published 2012

About

I had this warming Karen version of sour soup in a village not far from Moulmein, the port at the mouth of the Salween River. Rather than being fish-broth-based, as many sour soups are, it is made with pork and freshly cooked greens. The shrimp paste (ngapi) is very subtle and blends into the other flavors seamlessly.

Serve as a main dish over rice, perhaps with some roasted root vegetables or a crisp salad on the side. Leftovers are exceptionally good the next day.