Samosa Soup is a popular Burmese lentil soup which is topped with samosa and various other toppings to make it a filling and complete meal in itself!

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 40 minutes
  • Total time: 530 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Soup
  • Cuisine: Burmese

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup kala chana (black chickpeas, 44 grams, soaked overnight)
  • 3 tablespoons besan (gram flour, 30 grams)
  • 2 tablespoons oil (30 ml)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 dried red chili (broken, can add more to up spice levels)
  • 3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1 cup chopped red onion (from 1 medium red onion)
  • 4-5 large garlic cloves (minced)
  • 1 teaspoon salt (divided, adjust to taste)
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon paprika
  • 2 tablespoons chana dal (35 grams)
  • 4.5 cups water (divided)
  • 1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
  • 6-8 samosa (homemade or store-bought)
  • cabbage, carrot, cilantro (for topping)

Method

  1. Before you start making the soup, make sure to soak the Black chickpeas (kala chana) overnight. If you want, you can also soak chana dal for 2 to 3 hours (I did not soak it).
  2. To a pan on medium-low heat, add besan. Dry roast the besan, stirring continuously for 3 to 4 minutes until it has a nice roasted aroma. Remove pan from heat. Transfer the roasted besan to a glass jar or bowl and add 1/2 cup water to it. Using a wire whisk, mix it all together until the besan and water are well combined. Set this aside.
  3. Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add the oil and then add the bay leaf, dried red chili, cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Let the cumin seeds crackle and mustard seeds pop.
  4. Then add the chopped onion and minced garlic. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt along with the onions (this helps them in cooking faster). Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the onions soften.
  5. Then add the spices- turmeric, coriander powder, paprika. Cook for around 45 seconds.
  6. Then add the besan-water mixture that we had prepared earlier and stir. Drain the soaked kala chana and add it to the pot along with chana dal. Give it a stir.
  7. Add 4 cups water and stir everything. Add remaining 3/4 teaspoon of salt. You can adjust the amount of salt to taste. Also, add tamarind concentrate and stir.
  8. Close the pot with the lid and press the manual or pressure cook button. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes with the pressure valve in sealing position. Quick release the pressure.
  9. Open the lid, add soup to serving bowls. Break samosa into 3-4 parts and add to soup bowl. Depending on the size of the soup bowl, you can add 1 or 2 samosa per soup bowl. Top with shredded green & purple cabbage, sliced carrots, cilantro!

Stove-top Instructions

  1. If you don't have a Instant Pot, cook the chana dal and kala chana first using a stove-top pressure cooker. Then in a pan, add oil and then follow all the steps as it is until adding water. Once you have added the water, let the soup simmer for 15 to 20 minutes on medium heat. You may need to add more water as water evaporates on stove-top. Add samosa and serve with toppings.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.