Samusa Thoke

Ingredients

The samosas

• 8samosas
• vegetable or meat filled
• fried and cooled
• shop bought is normal

The chickpea broth

• 200 gyellow split peas
• or chana dal, soaked
• 1onion, chopped
• 3garlic cloves, crushed
• 2cm ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoonturmeric
• 1 teaspoonchilli powder
• 2 tablespoonsoil
• about 1 litre water
• salt

The salad

• quarter of a cabbage
• finely shredded
• 1onion, sliced very thin
• 2tomatoes, sliced
• a handful of mint leaves
• chopped coriander

The dressing

• juice of 2 limes
• 2 tablespoonsfish sauce
• or soy sauce
• 1 teaspoonchilli flakes
• 2 tablespoonsfried onion oil
• or plain oil
• crispy fried onions, to scatter

Directions

1. Drain and rinse the soaked split peas. Discard all of the soaking water. Rinse them under fresh cold water. Simmer the split peas until soft. Soaked split peas take about forty minutes.
2. Salt slows their softening considerably. Season only once they are soft. Frying the base is done alongside. Heat the oil in a wide frying pan. Add all the chopped onion to it. Cook it for about ten full minutes. It should soften and turn golden.
3. Add the garlic and grated ginger. Give them about one full minute. Add the turmeric and chilli powder. Fry them briefly in the hot oil. Heat releases their aromatic oils. Give them about thirty seconds only. Stir them so they do not burn. Stir the fried base into the peas. Add the base with all of its oil.
4. Stir it right through thoroughly. Simmer it for ten more minutes. Add water until it is thin and pourable. It should be a broth rather than a dal.
5. Add water gradually and judge it. Taste it and then salt it now. It should be very clearly savoury. Season it more than seems right. Shred the cabbage as finely as you can. Use a sharp knife or a mandoline. Take real care with a mandoline. Slice the onion as thin as you can. Very thin slices are genuinely wanted. Rinse it in cold water to mellow it. Then drain and dry it thoroughly.
6. Pick the mint leaves from the stems. Chop all the coriander roughly. Leave all the mint leaves whole. Add them in at the last moment. Whisk the lime juice with the fish sauce. Add the chilli flakes and the oil. It should be sour, salty and hot. Taste it and adjust before using. Cut the samosas into rough pieces.
7. Cut each one into four or five pieces. They should all be bite sized. Chop them right before assembling. Chopped samosa goes soft in the air. Put the chopped samosa in a wide bowl. Use a genuinely wide bowl for it. The hand tossing needs real room. Add the cabbage, onion and tomato. Add the mint and the coriander. There should be plenty of vegetables.
8. Pour the dressing over everything. Toss it all together by the hand. Wash your hands thoroughly first. Ladle the hot broth over the salad. Add it at the very last moment. Serve it within a minute or two. Add enough to moisten thoroughly. Do not drown the whole salad in it.
9. Serve extra broth alongside it. Scatter crispy fried onions over it. Add the onions right at the end. Serving it is always done at once. Serve it immediately after assembling. The samosa softens within minutes. Assemble it right before eating. Every mouthful should have variety.

Technique

• Chop the samosas and add the hot broth at the very last moment, since both soften immediately — some crispness should remain at first, and that contrast between crisp pastry, soft broth and fresh cabbage is the whole point of the dish. Serve it within a minute or two of assembling.
• The broth must be thin and pourable rather than a thick dal, coating rather than smothering, and seasoned more strongly than seems right since it carries the whole salad’s seasoning and the vegetables dilute it considerably.
• Fish sauce in the dressing is invisible and fish allergy can be severe, so say clearly it is there; soy sauce replaces it and vegetable samosas make the whole dish vegetarian — say plainly which you have made.

Substitutions

• Shop-bought samosas are normal here and day-old ones work perfectly well — making them fresh is not the point, since this is a dish built on what is already there.
• Fried onion oil, left from frying onions, carries real savoury flavour and is used across Burmese cooking; plain oil is the substitute.

Variations

• Cut each samosa into four or five bite-sized pieces with some pastry and some filling in each, rather than crushing them into crumbs, and use a genuinely wide bowl since the tossing needs room and a narrow one crushes everything.
• Toss it by hand, which is what thoke means and is genuinely how it is done — hands mix more gently than spoons and judge the coating better. Wash them thoroughly first, or use two large spoons.
• Leave the mint leaves whole rather than chopping, since chopped mint darkens very fast; slice the onion very thin and rinse it in cold water to mellow it, drained and dried after.
• Indian migration to Burma was substantial under British colonial rule and Indian food arrived and stayed before being reworked entirely — a samosa is a self-contained snack, and this breaks it open to become one element among many, which is a genuine reinvention. The atlas also carries Somali sambuus and Comorian samoussa, both eaten whole.

History

Indian samosas chopped up and dressed as a salad with onion, cabbage and hot broth, a Burmese reworking of a migrant food.

Frequently asked questions

What is Samusa Thoke?

Samusa Thoke is a street food from Myanmar: chopped samosa salad with chickpea broth, cabbage and mint. Indian samosas chopped up and dressed as a salad with onion, cabbage and hot broth, a Burmese reworking of a migrant food.

How long does Samusa Thoke take to make?

Samusa Thoke takes 30 minutes of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Samusa Thoke?

Yes, within limits. Shop-bought samosas are normal here and day-old ones work perfectly well — making them fresh is not the point, since this is a dish built on what is already there. Fried onion oil, left from frying onions, carries real savoury flavour and is used across Burmese cooking; plain oil is the substitute.

What is the most important thing to get right in Samusa Thoke?

Add the garlic and grated ginger. Give them about one full minute. Add the turmeric and chilli powder. Fry them briefly in the hot oil. Heat releases their aromatic oils. Give them about thirty seconds only. Stir them so they do not burn. Stir the fried base into the peas. Add the base with all of its oil.