Lemony Lentil Soup, or Shorabat Addas Recipe

Lentils are a staple in most Palestinian cuisines, as meat has traditionally been an occasional luxury. This is the most basic recipe for lentil soup -other versions include spinach, leeks, zucchini.  My mother's version of this soup does not even include carrots and celery, and most Palestinians do not add the tomato paste.  At its most pared down version, there is little more than lentils, water, onion and cumin, and of course, lemon.

Incidentally, you will notice that almost every Palestinian lentil dish is seasoned with cumin.  Why is that?   Cumin is believed to have . . . *ahem* . . .  anti-gas properties.   So, lentils and cumin are a natural pairing!  My recipe for lentil rice pilaf, or mujjadara does not have cumin in it simply because my mother omits it in that recipe, but most Palestinian cooks do use cumin with it. 

Yield:  About four servings.

Ingredients

Shorabat Addas

2 tbsp grassfed butter or olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 carrots, finely chopped (optional)
1 celery stalk, finely chopped (optional)
1 cup green or brown lentils, soaked overnight
6 cups chicken, lamb or beef broth, or water
1 tbsp tomato paste (optional)
1 tsp cumin
Sea salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste

To garnish:
Extra virgin olive oil
Lemon wedges

Directions

1.  Saute the onion, garlic, celery, and carrots in olive oil until just softened.  Season with salt and pepper.

2.  Pour in your lentils and broth.  Add cumin and season with salt and pepper  Stir in tomato paste.

3.  Simmer until lentils are tender and soup is flavorful, about 45- 60 minutes. 

4.  To serve, drizzle bowls of soup with a little olive oil and squeeze a wedge of fresh lemon.

Serve with bread, salad

Soup with Meat Balls ( Shawrabt el Ima) Recipe

Ingredients:

300 grams minced beef
1/2 cup short grain rice ( I use the Italian one)
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon corn oil

Preparation:

1. Mix the meat with half teaspoon salt and a dash of black pepper, and shape it into small balls

2. In a pot, heat the oil and fry the meat malls until brown, remove them and place on a kitchen towel paper to remove the excess of oil

3. In the same oil fry the onion until slightly golden, the add the rice and cover with about 5 cups of water. Let it boil, then simmer covered on low fire until the rice is tender, then add the meat balls

4. Add the tomato puree to the soup, add the remaining salt and pepper and adjust the seasoning.

5. Cover and let it cook slowly for few minutes

6. When you put the fire off, add the chopped parsley

5 Things You Should Know About Bone Broth

Move over, green juice. The newest liquid health darling is meant to warm you up while blasting your body with minerals.

Bone broth isn't exactly stock.
What separates a broth from a stock? Mainly the amount of time it's simmered. The longer the liquid cooks, the more nutrients and minerals leach from the bones. Broths are made by simmering the bones and some meat (typically that's already been roasted) of an animal or fish for a longgg time, often more than 24 hours, versus a stock which can finish cooking in about 3.

Bone broth is the latest health fad this winter.
Bone broth first gained traction among the Paleo crowd, but now the nourishing tonic has reached mass appeal, thanks to Kobe Bryant and chefs like Marco Canora of New York City's Hearth. Canora started selling to-go cups of bone broth from a window of his restaurant this fall, offering add-ins like freshly grated turmeric and ginger juice. "My mission lately is to prove to people that 'healthy' doesn't mean you need to sacrifice flavor or satisfaction," says Canora, whose new cookbook, A Good Food Day, is out now. "In my mind, nothing proves this more than a well-made bone broth. It's delicious and the list of health benefits is as long as my arm." You'll also see more of it on store shelves: Pacific Natural Foods has a new line of sipping bone broths at supermarkets nationwide.

But it's by no means a new concept.
"Bone broth has been around for centuries," says Sara Haas, RDN, a dietitian, chef, and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Doctors of Chinese medicine have turned to it to strengthen kidneys and support the digestive system, and the English have sipped beef tea (read: a steeped mixture of cubed beef and water) since the Victorian era.

It has big benefits.
An aromatic broth simmered with beef or poultry bones and vegetables offers a laundry list of body-boosting goodness: protein (about 6 grams per cup) and minerals like calcium, phosphorous (good for bones and teeth), and potassium, which helps move nutrients into cells and waste out of cells. But according to Daniel Auer, a holistic medicine doctor based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the real draw is the low-and-slow cooking process, which breaks down the bones and connective tissues of the meat. As we sip the broth, we take in collagen, the building block of cells to bones and the brain, and gelatin, a form of collagen that aids digestion, both of which he says are incredibly healing. Auer recommends bone broth to patients with food sensitives as a way to nourish the digestive system without too much work.

You can make your own.
Place leftover roast chicken bones in a large pot an cover with 6 cups water. Add 1 chopped carrot and 2 chopped stalks celery and any aromatic herbs you desire, such as thyme, rosemary, parsley, or oregano. Let simmer on low for at least 20 hours.

Turkish rice and lentil yoghurt soup with dukkah oil recipe

0:15 Prep | 0:35 Cook | 4 Servings | Capable cooks

Wholegrains and legumes, like lentils, are low in fat, high in carbohydrates and provide a great source of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals.

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3/4 cup rice and lentil mix (see note)
6 cups Massel chicken style liquid stock
1 1/2 tablespoons plain flour
500g tub plain Greek-style yoghurt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves

DUKKAH OIL
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 pinches sweet paprika
2 tablespoons pistachio kernels, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon lemon rind, finely grated
1 tablespoon lemon juice

METHOD

Step 1
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion. Cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic. Cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add rice and lentil mix. Stir to combine. Add stock and 1 cup cold water. Cover. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes or until rice mixture is tender.

Step 2
Meanwhile, make Dukkah Oil; Heat oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add cumin, coriander, paprika, pistachios and sesame seeds. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until fragrant. Remove from heat. Add lemon rind and juice.

Step 3
Blend flour and 2 tablespoons water until smooth. Place yoghurt in a large heatproof bowl. Add egg and flour mixture. Whisk until smooth and combined.

Step 4
Slowly add 1/2 cup hot stock mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, to yoghurt mixture, whisking to combine. Reduce heat to low. Slowly add yoghurt mixture to remaining stock mixture. Whisk until combined. Cook for 5 minutes or until heated through (do not boil). Season with salt and pepper.

Step 5
Serve soup drizzled with dukkah oil and topped with mint.

Lebanese Vegetable Soup Recipe

This tasty homemade vegetable soup is great for the cold winter!

INGREDIENTS

1 large Spanish onion, chopped (About 2 cups)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1⁄2 cups chopped carrots
1⁄4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 -4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1⁄2 cups chopped potatoes
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
4 -5 cups vegetable stock (see notes in recipe)
2 large tomatoes, chopped
10 artichoke hearts, cut into eighths (2 14-oz cans)
3⁄4 cup canned chickpeas
1⁄4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 lemons, cut into wedges

DIRECTIONS

Stock: use a combination of vegetable stock, the chick pea liquid and the artichoke heart brine.

In a large soup pot, saute the onion in the olive oil for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the carrots. Cover.

Stir again after 3 minutes. Add the ground red pepper, coriander, and garlic. Cover and cook for a few more minutes.

Add the potatoes, salt and 2 cups of the stock.

Cover the pot and bring the soup to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are nearly tender. Be careful not to overcook them.

Gently stir in the tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and the chick peas. Salt to taste.

Cover and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes, just to heat the tomatoes.

Add the remaining 2-3 cups of stock or even more if you prefer more broth. Heat gently.

It is important not to overcook or boil the soup. The potatoes, tomatoes and artichokes should be heated just enough to blend the flavors or they might disintegrate.

Sprinkle each serving with fresh parsley and garnish with a wedge of fresh lemon.

Freekeh and Chicken Soup Recipe

Freekeh and Chicken Soup is an Algerian origin soup - we highly recommend this soup for your regular Iftar menu in Ramadan. Any other month of the year, you can have it for lunch or dinner. See the full recipe here.

Ingredients

Prepare the soup

Celery, diced 50 g
Chicken breast, diced 500 g
Onion, finely chopped 100 g
Carrot, diced 100 g
Garlic, crushed 20 g
Knorr Tomato Pronto (6x2kg) 180 g
Sweet paprika 10 g
Chilli, powder 3 g
Black Pepper, crushed 2 g
Water 1.30 l
Knorr Chicken Stock Powder (6x1100g) 30 g
Freekeh 60 g
Chickpeas, boiled, drained 100 g
Mint, dry 3 g
Coriander leaves chopped 20 g
Lemon wedges, to serve 20 pc

Preparation

Prepare the soup

In a large cooking pot, warm olive oil over medium heat, add chicken pieces and cook a few minutes until Brown color. Remove chicken and set aside. Meanwhile wash and chop coriander stems.

In the same cooking pot over low-medium heat sauté onion, carrot and celery until onions are translucent and soft. Add garlic and chopped coriander stems fry for 1 minutes.

Add Knorr tomato Pronto cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring often.

Add paprika, chili powder and black pepper, return chicken and cook for another minute or so, again stirring often.

Add water, Knorr Chicken Stock Powder, increase heat and bring to boil then cover and reduce heat to a simmer allow to cook for 10 minutes before adding freekeh and cooking for another 30-40 minutes.

Add chickpeas to the soup, simmer for about 10 minutes.

Serve warm with lemon wedges and coriander leaves on the side so that people can add a squeeze of lemon juice or drizzle of olive oil if desired.