It's Winter Lentil Soup (Egyptian-Shorbaat Aads)

cooking in cairo...'s Note:

This is so yummy, so creamy and an excellent hearty soup for winter! There are many variations, I like this one, mine (uh em) best. It tends to thicken as it sits, so your leftovers, you may want to add a bit of chicken of vegetable stock to thin a bit. Believe me, don't skip the fried pita bread, or substitute croutons, the fried pita really makes this soup! Enjoy!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 10

SOUP INGREDIENTS

• 1 ½ cups orange lentils
• 1 large onion , chopped
• 3 garlic cloves , chopped
• 1 small red bell pepper , chopped
• 1 carrot , grated
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• butter
• oil
• salt & pepper
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 1 dash turmeric
• 1 dash paprika
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream

GARNISH INGREDIENTS

• 2 white pita breads
• oil (for frying)
• 1 dash salt
• 1 dash cumin
• 1 dash heavy cream
• sauteed sliced red bell pepper (if u want to use, put a slice or two per bowl)

Directions:

1. Put 1 ½ cups of orange lentils in pot. Add approximately 4 cups of water, bring to a boil and skim out “white foam” as you see it. Cover and turn heat to low. Turn off when lentils are tender, if there is water still don’t worry about it, its better this way.
2. In a large stock pot, add a few pats of butter and oil.
3. Add chopped onion, garlic, red bell pepper and garlic, sauté until soft and a bit brown, not too much.
4. Add in shredded carrots and stir around for 5 minutes.
5. Add two tablespoons of tomato paste, stir until all coated. You should have like a mushy ball, don’t worry this is right.
6. Your lentils have cooled, add to blender, add in sautéed onion garlic mixture on top.
7. Add a bit of water, like 1 cup and puree.
8. Add the pureed soup back into same pot where you sautéed the onions.
9. Add salt, pepper to taste.
10. Add chicken bouillon cube.
11. Add a dash of turmeric, 2 tablespoons of cumin, and a dash of paprika.
12. Bring to a boil, then turn to real low and simmer 30-45 minutes.
13. If consistency is too thick, add water or chicken stock.
14. The last step is to stir in one tablespoon of heavy cream before serving.
15. FOR GARNISH:.
16. Rip the two white pitas into bite size pieces.
17. Heat oil in wok, deep fry the pita pieces and drain.
18. Sprinkle with salt and cumin.
19. Spoon soup in to serving dishes, you may drizzle a touch, very, very little heavy cream and a pat of fresh butter and a few slices of sautéed red bell pepper if you’re using for presentation then add pita chips to warm soup on top.
20. Arrange extra pita chips around each soup bowl on plate for presentation. ENJOY!
21. *** You can make this the same way, by adding meat. Take a thin sliced steak with bone, brown in butter until cooked. De-bone the steak. Chop meat into tiny, tiny pieces, add to soup after you pureed and put into pot. Add the bone to the soup to cook in the flavor and remove bone before serving. If using this method, you may want to cook soup a bit longer to get meatier flavor, instead of 30-45 minutes, put on real low for one hour , 30 minutes. ***.

Reviews

[Karen Elizabeth]

The soup is on my To Make list, but in the meantime, I borrowed the garnish of fried pita bread chips to serve with Carrot and Coriander Winter Soup. Absolutely fabulous, we are instantly converted, I ate half of these little morsels before they made it as far as being served with the soup!
I'm very much looking forward to enjoying the soup as well, but thank you for a really great garnish idea!

[nmccafferty]

Brilliant soup. Substituted red lentils, worked fine although I do know that orange lentils have a very distinct flavour. They are just extremely hard to find in the western world! Family loved it - in fact, getting ingredients so I can make it again!

[Wobin]

Just had this for dinner and it was great. My first time using lentiles. I smelled the lentiles after they were done cooking and was a little afraid because they didnt smell good alone. After adding all the other ingredients this soup was very yummy and hearty when adding the pita bread. I used greek yogurt instead of cream since I had it on hand. Thanks for a great recipe!