This soup is so comforting with delicious flavors and textures. AND sooooo easy! The recipe comes from Maureen Abood. Her website, cookbook, spices and other pantry items are excellent! My friend Brooke recommended her to me a few years ago and I was hooked. Her cookbook is filled with many of her cherished family recipes and it is also a beautiful cookbook. I have ordered many spices, lebanese olive oils, and bulger from her shop. I especially love her mint salt and shawarma spices.
I also think about my dear friend Amal everytime I cook or bake a Lebanese dish. Brooke & Amal and I became fast friends when we were volunteering at our daughters' school. They are very very special women. So glad we met! Love you Amal and Brooke! XOXOXO
Lebanese Lentil Soup recipe slightly adapted from Maureen Abood
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups finely
diced yellow onion
2 teaspoons kosher
salt
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 cup brown
lentils
½ teaspoon freshly
ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground
coriander
4 cups water or
vegetable stock or chicken broth (or a mixture of water & broth)
1 cup swiss
chard or spinach, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro chopped
2 tablespoons lemon
juice freshly squeezed
(Maureen adds egg fettucini to the soup - I served it over leftover jasmine rice.)
Put a 3-quart pot over medium heat – add olive oil to the pot then add chopped onions & garlic and 1 teaspoon of salt. Sauté until the onions are very soft and picking up color, about 5 minutes. Stirrring to make sure garlic does not burn on the bottom of pan.
Add the lentils, 1
teaspoon of salt, coriander, and pepper. Stir to combine. Add the 4 cups water (or
veggie broth, chix broth, or a mix of broth & water) and increase the heat.
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the
lentils and pasta are tender, with lid ajar, about 15 minutes. Add the swiss shard and the cilantro and stir
in.
Stir in the fresh
lemon juice and taste and adjust seasoning, if needed.
Ladle into soup bowls, top each with chopped cilantro and extra squeeze of lemon.
I had about 1 1/2 cups of homemade chicken broth in the freezer so I mixed with 2 1/2 cups water! |