Soups

Burmese have a strong and wonderfully varied soup tradition. In North America soup now seems to be an afterthought, rarely made at home or ordered in a restaurant. But in Burma soups are an essential part of the main meal of the day, flavorful and appealing broths that are sipped from time to time during the meal instead of water. (For noodle soups, another category altogether, see the Noodles chapter.)

Everyday soups are clean-flavored broths that usually have a few vegetables floating in them and are lightly soured with lime juice or tamarind. All of them work well as a soup course in a Western meal. They include Classic Sour Soup and Ambrosial Chicken Broth with Shallots and Lime Juice.