Amsoi is the Surinamese, and partly Chinese, name for a variant of Brassica juncea. Soi is Chinese for ‘vegetable’. This plant is also known as brown mustard, Chinese mustard, Indian mustard, leaf mustard, Oriental mustard and vegetable mustard, and is a species of mustard plant. The taste is slightly pungent and reminds of mustard. The leaves are rich in vitamins A, C, and especially rich in vitamin K.

In The Netherlands you can buy amsoi, which will be a bit different from the plant you would buy on a Chinese, Korean or Indian market. The plant is very common and is widely used in cuisine. The genus of the plant is Brassica which contains cabbages.

Below a typical use in the Surinamese kitchen from New Draver restaurant: amsoi with salted beef, chicken and rice. No need to boil the amsoi separately, you can just fry the finely cut amsoi and stew the vegetable in its own water, which will be released during the cooking process.