Middle Eastern Soup

[Dana]

My supper club is reading the book The Red Tent and we decided to do a "theme" dinner of middle eastern cooking. I volunteered to make a soup but have no idea what to make. Does anyone have a good recipe they could pass along? Thanks!
Dana

[cdm]

Dana,

Its nice to be able to help somebody cause Im usually asking question. The only soup I can think of is a lentil. I just made this recipe this weekend, then Ill give you another lentil soup recipe too that I havent tried.

4 servings
1/8 C olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 medium carrots, grated
1/2 tsp thyme, dried
1/2 tsp marjoram, dry
2 C beef or vegetable stock
1 C lentils, washed and sorted thru
1 Lb canned tomatoes
1/4 C parsley, fresh chopped
1/2 C champagne

In a large non-stick pot, heat olive oil and saute onion for 3-5 minutes. Add carrots and saute for 1 minute. Add thyme, marjoram and stir. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 30-40 minutes, until lentils are almost done. (If planning to freeze, be sure not to overcook lentils!)

Other Red lentil Soup Recipe

6 C low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2C red lentils, rinsed and picked over for small stones and shriveled lentils (you should always do this for any recipe w lentils)
1 small onion grated
1/4 tsp ground cumin
generous sprinkling of cayenne, to taste
Chopped fresh parsley (opt)
Croutons (opt)

Place the broth, red lentils, onion cumin, and cayenne in a medium saucepan and simmer, partially covered, until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Pour the soup into a blender or the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until smooth (you may have to do this in batches). Return soup to the pan and simmer until it is the desired thickness, stirring frequently. (Some people like this soup almost spreadable perhaps for pita bread-but be careful not to let it burn.) Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and/or croutons if desired.

Cooks tip: If you have a hand-held immersion blender, you can puree the soup right in the pot while it cooks

[emilycat]

Dana,

I have several recipes, one for a Middle Eastern Chickpea Soup, Turkish Spinach and Lentil Soup, Persian Yogurt Rice Soup and Lebanese Vegetable Soup. If you'd like any (or all) of them, just let me know, and I'll type them up for you. Your dinner sounds like it'll be delicious!

[tovie]

This is really good, and leftovers freeze well.

Harira

1 lb lamb, cubed
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
2 Tbs butter
3/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 2lb can tomatoes, chopped
salt to taste
7 cups water
3/4 cup lentils
1 cup canned chickpeas
1/4 cup fine soup noodles
2 eggs, beaten with juice of 1/2 a lemon

Melt butter over low heat. Add lamb, spices, celery and cilantro and stir for 5 minutes. Drain tomatoes, reserving liquid, and add pieces to pot. Cook 15 minutes. Salt to taste. Add juice from tomatoes, water and lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours. Add chickpeas and noodles, cook for 5 minutes. Then, with soup at a steady simmer, stir the lemon eggs into the stock with a long wooden spoon. Continue stirring slowly to create long egg strands and to thicken soup. Ladle into bowls and dust with additional cinnamon. Serve with little bowls of extra lemon juice.


I always add garlic and onion to this. I also like way more broth with my soup than the original made, so I added more water with vegetable boullion at some point in the cooking process and I also removed part of the solid ingredients and pureed them and then stirred them back in to make the broth thicker.

The original recipe didn't specify whether the lamb was raw or cooked, but I've used both. If I use raw, I usually throw in several large pieces, bones and all, and then remove them after the 2 hour simmer and chop the meat up. But leftover roast works fine too.

Tovie

[BethH]

Dana,

I'm sorry that I don't have any recipes for you but I just had to write because I loooved The Red Tent! I read it last summer and thought it was a great book!

Hope you guys enjoy your dinner and can I pleeeease come too!? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[lorilei]

Here are a couple of suggestions:

CHICKPEA SOUP - HASA AL-HUMMUS
Serves from 6 to 8)

1 cup chickpeas, soaked in water overnight, then drained
8 cups water
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 medium size onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic, chopped into small pieces
1 small hot pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped coriander leaves
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon ground mustard seeds
1/4 cup lemon juice

Place chickpeas and water in a saucepan and bring to boil. Cover and cook over medium heat for 1 hour.

In the meantime, heat oil in a frying pan; then stir-fry onions, garlic, and hot pepper until they begin to brown. Add frying
pan contents with the remaining ingredients to the chickpeas. Cover and cook over medium heat for 1 hour or until
chickpeas are well-cooked.

Total Calories Per Serving: 133
Fat: 4 grams
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Beid Bi Lamoun
(Egg and Lemon Soup)

This is a great favorite all over the Middle East. It is the Greek avgolemono. Egg yolks alone or whole eggs are used as a thickening for this very lemony soup.

7-1/2 cups chicken stock (see below)
Salt and white pepper
1/3 cup rice, washed, or 1/3 cup Italian pastina, or 1/4 cup tapioca
3 egg yolks or 2 whole eggs
Juice of 1-2 lemons
2 T. finely chopped parsley or chives (optional)

Make a rich chicken stock with leftover chicken bones or giblets. If it is not strong enough, add a stock cube. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the rice, pastina, or tapioca to the boiling stock and simmer until tender. Beat the egg yolks or whole eggs and add the lemon juice, beating constantly. Add a ladleful of the soup to the egg mixture and beat well. Pour this back into the pan slowly, still beating constantly. Keep the heat under the pan very low, and cook the soup gently, stirring all the time, until it thickens. On no account allow it to boil, or the eggs will curdle. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more lemon juice if necessary.

Garnish, if you like, with chopped parsley or chives, and serve immediately.

In Greece, fish and meat stocks are also used to make the soup, but this is uncommon in the other countries of the Middle East.

From "A Book of Middle Eastern Food" by Claudia Roden
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This recipe is not particularly "authentic", but has very strong Middle Eastern overtones. It's also extremely delicious!

Smoky Eggplant Soup with Red Pepper Cream

2 eggplants, 1 1/2 lb. each
1 red bell pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 yellow onions, coarsely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups chicken broth
Flat-leaf parsley sprigs

Preheat an oven to 375°F.

Using tongs, hold each eggplant over the flame of a gas stove and turn occasionally until blackened on all sides, about 10 minutes. Alternatively, blacken the skins over a charcoal fire. Place the blackened eggplant on a baking sheet. Bake until very tender when pierced with a knife, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Peel off the skin and reserve the flesh.

Preheat a broiler. Cut the bell pepper in half lengthwise and remove the stem, seeds and ribs. Place, cut sides down, on a baking sheet and broil until blackened and blistered. Remove from the broiler and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Let steam until cool enough to handle, 10 to 15 minutes, then peel off the skin. Transfer the pepper to a blender or a food processor fitted with the metal blade and puree until very smooth. In a small bowl, whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the pepper puree and season with cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. Cover and refrigerate the red pepper cream.

In a soup pot over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onions and sauté, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the eggplant flesh and the broth, bring to a simmer and simmer, uncovered, until the eggplant falls apart, about 30 minutes. Using a blender and working in batches, puree the soup on high speed until smooth, 3 to 4 minutes for each batch. Season with salt. If the soup is too thick, add water until it is the consistency of heavy cream.

Ladle into warmed bowls and spoon some red pepper cream over each serving. Garnish with parsley sprigs and serve immediately with any remaining red pepper cream on the side. Serves 6.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Seasonal Celebration Series, Autumn by Joanne Weir (Time Life Inc., 1997).
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BARLEY SOUP

1 cup dried barley
1/2 c dried lentils
6 c water
3 small diced onions
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of dried mint
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 cup of cooked chick peas

Instructions:

Fry onions in hot olive oil until golden. Combine in a large saucepan all ingredients except for the chick peas. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stir occasionally. Add chick peas near end of cooking time.

Best way to eat: with a fresh salad and feta cheese

[BeckyM]

Another great middle-eastern soup I've tried is from Cooking Light about a year ago. I believe it is called Garbanzo Stew. It has garbanzo beans, lots of tomatoes, onions, and various spices. I think it was in the Jan/Feb 2000 issue, but I could be wrong -- I do know it was a winter issue last year. If you can't find it and need someone to type it up, let me know.