Method
- Blanch the pork ribs in boiling water 5 minutes; rinse.
- Heat oil in a heavy pot. Add sliced onion; cook 5 minutes until softened. Add smashed ginger, garlic and dried chilies; stir 60 seconds.
- Add the pork ribs, turmeric, fish sauce and salt. Stir 4 minutes — the pork should colour at the edges.
- Pour in 1.5L water. Bring to a simmer; cover and cook 40 minutes until the pork is tender.
- Add the drained mohnyin (pickled mustard greens) and ngapi mixture. Simmer 10 more minutes — the broth turns slightly sour and the pickled greens release their tang.
- Add tamarind paste; stir. Off the heat. The soup should be aggressively sour, salty and slightly fishy from the ngapi. Serve with steamed rice. Mohnyin soup is comfort food on a hot Burmese afternoon — the sourness opens the appetite.
Common questions
Can Mohnyin Soup be made ahead?
Mohnyin Soup is best made and eaten the same day, but the components can be prepped earlier — chop and measure the ingredients up to a day ahead, refrigerated separately. Final cooking takes about 60 minutes.
Is Mohnyin Soup spicy?
Mohnyin Soup as written is mild to mildly warming — the heat comes from aromatics rather than chili. Add fresh sliced chili or chili oil at the end if you'd like to push it spicier.
Is Mohnyin Soup vegetarian or gluten-free?
This recipe is suitable for most diets. If you have specific restrictions, the substitutions section in each ingredient note covers the most common swaps.
How hard is Mohnyin Soup to make at home?
Mohnyin Soup is approachable for a home cook with basic stove skills — total time about 75 minutes, no special technique required.
Can Mohnyin Soup be scaled up or down?
This recipe is written for 4 servings. To scale, multiply each ingredient proportionally; the cooking times stay the same up to about double the volume. Beyond that, expect to cook in batches because of pan size and heat distribution.
Cultural Note
Mohnyin soup uses the Burmese fermented mustard greens (mohnyin) — a brined-and-fermented preparation that's the staple pickled vegetable of Burma. The dish is everyday Burmese home cooking; every household has a jar of mohnyin in the fridge. The combination of pork-and-pickle is universal across Asian cuisines (Chinese suan cai bai rou guo, Vietnamese canh chua bap cai, Korean kimchi jjigae); the Burmese version is distinguished by the use of ngapi for umami depth. The pickling is traditionally done at home in clay pots over weeks.
