The Comforting Lebanese Lentil Soup Recipe I’ve Been Cooking for Many years

I moved to Southern California in 1998, and one of many first individuals to welcome me was Nadia Fakkreddine, a Lebanese mom of 4 with a knack for feeding everybody round her. She’s about my mom’s age—and simply as gifted within the kitchen. For years, we lived one avenue aside, and every time she made dishes she knew my household liked, she’d ship a plate over—dishes like ejjeh (a fritter-like egg dish with herbs that is pronounced egga within the Egyptian dialect and ejjeh within the Levant) or ma’amoul (crumbly semolina cookies filled with dates or nuts). When my daughter Keya was born, Nadia grew to become her honorary grandmother and, over time, a frequent deliverer of fattoush, the salad Keya got here to like most.

One afternoon years in the past, Keya and I ended by Nadia’s simply as she’d completed making her lentil and lemon soup (adas bi hamoud). Naturally, she provided us a style, and I fell in love with its vivid, tangy broth and tender brown lentils. 

Nadia is from Beirut, and he or she says that within the a part of the town the place she grew up, lemon, garlic, Swiss chard, cumin, and cilantro had been important to this lentil soup. She taught me find out how to make adas bi hamoud the day I first tasted it, and it stays one in every of my favourite soups to make and eat.

The method begins by sorting the lentils to take away any stray particles, then rinsing them to clean away mud and residue so the broth would not flip cloudy. The lentils simmer in water till tender however nonetheless intact, whereas onions brown individually in olive oil, constructing a savory base that balances the soup’s lemony acidity.

After the onions are cooked, they’re put aside, and garlic and cilantro (or parsley) are shortly sautéed in the identical skillet simply till aromatic. The herbs ought to wilt however not brown—this retains their taste recent and fragrant. 

As soon as the lentils are tender, they’re seasoned with earthy cumin, then mixed with the browned onions and diced potatoes, which thicken the broth as they prepare dinner. Chopped Swiss chard is added towards the tip so it cooks briefly and retains its construction, its minerality including one other layer of taste. 

The soup is completed with the sautéed garlic and herb combination and a beneficiant pour of lemon juice that brightens each spoonful. The result’s tangy and fragrant, with creamy lentils, tender greens, and simply sufficient potato to provide it physique. The slight sweetness of the onions and the light chunk of the garlic spherical out the flavour.

In just below an hour, humble brown lentils are remodeled right into a soup that is each comforting and energetic. Whereas it isn’t conventional, I prefer to serve this soup with a dollop of labneh or bitter cream. It is a dish that feels excellent on a crisp night, served alongside salad and toasted bread or folded into an even bigger meal for associates. It is a soup that I am going to all the time make to honor my expensive pal Nadia.