Samlar machu facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Samlar machu

A bowl of Samlar machu kroeung.
Alternative names	Samlor machu, salaw machu, somlor machu
Type	Soup
Place of origin	Cambodia
Main ingredients	Tamarind, prahok, vegetables, fruits, herbs
Variations	Samlar machu kroeung, Samlar machu yuon, Samlar machu srae, Samlar machu ktis
Similar dishes	Canh chua

Samlar machu (Khmer: សម្លម្ជូរ – 'sour soup') is a Khmer term for a category of sour soups.

The sour flavour of the soup comes from the use of tamarind (អម្ពិល), however variations also include other tangy fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes (ប៉េងប៉ោះ), pineapples (ម្នាស់), Ipomoea aquatica, celery, as well as Tiliacora triandra leaves (ស្លឹកវល្លិយាវ). There are many types of Khmer sour soups such as:

• Samlar machu yuon (សម្លរម្ជូរយួន) with lobster, fish or chicken, pineapple, dried fish and tomatoes;
• Samlar machu srae (សម្លម្ជូរស្រែ) with fresh and dried fish, crab and green papaya;
• Samlar machu kroeung (សម្លរម្ជូរគ្រឿង) with beef or pork, yellow kroeung, Ipomoea aquatica, eggplants and dried jamalac.
• Samlar machu ktis (សម្លរម្ជូរខ្ទិះ​) with pork, pineapple and coconut milk.

Meat in this type of soup is usually that of either chicken, fish, pork, beef, lobster or crab. In the U.S. and Canada, instead of using fresh tamarind like in Cambodia, a powdered tamarind soup base mix is also used by the diaspora. One popular brand is manufactured by Knorr.