When I was a schoolboy (yes, a long time ago, very funny!), I would walk home after school with one thing on my mind, visit the kitchen first to see what I can forage.  Often, my mother would be busy preparing the main meal of the day and there was plenty of opportunities to keep me going until mealtime.  Raw vegetables were good; cheese, spinach or meat filled pastry with natural thick yoghurt would not be passed over; hot meat or chicken stock with a piece of bread to dunk in the stock went down well.  However, I would raise my eyes to the heavens and thank the lord on days when my mother had a pot of lentil soup gently simmering on the stove.  I would get a bowl or cup of this heavenly hot nectar and consume it with bread, radishes, olives, anything would become desirable and delicious accompanying this soup.

So, what’s so special about this particular soup?  I am not entirely sure, may be its simplicity of requiring 3 basic ingredients plus spices and lemon juice.  Perhaps the all-year-round availability of its ingredients that makes it omnipresent in every household.  It could be that the combination of these simple ingredients somehow unlocks a unique taste that is impossible to replicate in other dozens of soups.  However, I suspect it is to do with its strong association with happy and innocent bygone days, its ability to soothe our aches and warm our insides on winter days, or the constancy of its availability even on the most lavish of food tables on occasions as for Ramadan Iftar.

Like many others before or after me, most of us tried to improve this soup by adding new ingredients like carrots, potatoes, leeks, tomato juice, or garlic, which doesn’t sound so radical in Middle Eastern cuisine.  Some of these attempts proved to be more successful than others, especially when prepared by taste experts such as trained chefs.  However, I happily admit that the very simple and original soup recipe is unbeatable, pure and simple.

Being a simple soup that can be prepared from a standstill, with raw ingredients at the ready, to taking the first heavenly spoonful is barely 1 hour, there are not many hidden or closely guarded secrets to making this soup.  Any amateur cook or even occasional cook can master this soup by the third, maybe fourth attempt.  For what it is worth, here are some pointers to help you create a legend in your own lunchtime:

  • Use split red lentil pulse. The various shades of green or even black lentils will give you something more akin to the Indian Dahl dish, which has its time and place.
  • The use of chicken or vegetable stock is not really essential, but it does enhance the flavour and I highly recommend it.
  • Also, the addition of finely chopped parsley and freshly squeezed lemon juice adds piquancy and flavour to the soup.
  • Do not be tempted to add garlic or other strong spices such as cardamom or cinnamon as they will compete with the cumin taste, which will change the nature of the soup and you may as well call it ‘something else soup’.
  • Also, avoid the temptation of adding the lemon juice to the soup as it cooks away, this tend to give the soup a slightly bitter taste.
  • When creaming the soup use a hand-held blender or, if you are lucky enough, you own one of those old-fashioned vegetable mills with a manual handle that you spin round and round, squeezing the soup through a fitted perforated disk.If you have neither of these appliances then an electric blender or food processor will have to do but, I suggest you allow the soup to cool down first because the heat may crack the plastic bowl.

If you would like a step-by-step recipe, please let me know and I will send you a copy.

Go on, let your taste buds have a stimulating conversation with the most delicious soup on the planet.

 

Mufid Sukkar – June 2020