🇪🇬 Egypt
Shorbet ads (Egyptian lentil soup)Egyptian lentil soup
Egyptian soup of red or yellow lentils with onion, carrot and plenty of cumin, blended smooth, served with lemon and topped with fried onions or crisp pita.
Origin and history
Lentil soup is a daily soup in Egyptian homes, where lentils are an old staple of the winter table and of Ramadan. Egyptian recipes agree on red or yellow lentils, onion, carrot and cumin, blended smooth and finished with lemon and toasted bread; the dish is an everyday food and has few recorded legends.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 50 min
- Hands-on
- 20 min
Ingredients
- 250 g1 1/4 cups red or yellow lentils (ads), rinsed until the water runs clear
- 2 tbsp oil or ghee (samna)
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 1 potato, chopped; optional, for body
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1.5 l6 1/3 cups chicken stock or water
- 2 tsp ground cumin, plus a pinch to serve
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 2 to 3 tbsp lemon juice
- salt and black pepper, to taste
- toasted or fried pita pieces, fried onions, lemon wedges, to serve
Method
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1. Heat the oil in a large pot and cook the onions, carrots, tomato and garlic for 5 minutes, until softened.
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2. Add the lentils (and the potato), then pour in the stock or water.
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3. Bring to a boil, skim, and simmer partly covered for 30 minutes, until the lentils and vegetables are completely soft.
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4. Blend the soup smooth with an immersion blender (for a very fine texture, strain it afterwards).
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5. In a small pan, heat a spoon of oil and fry the cumin and turmeric for about 30 seconds until fragrant; stir this into the soup.
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6. Return to a low heat, season with salt and pepper, and thin with hot water if it is too thick.
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7. Stir in the lemon juice and serve hot, with toasted bread, a pinch of cumin and lemon wedges.
Notes
- Cumin is the lead spice. Frying it briefly in oil before stirring it in is the step Egyptian cooks stress.
- Egyptian households often enrich the soup with a handful of fried vermicelli (sha'ireyya) or serve it with radish, pickles and toasted bread; at Ramadan it opens the iftar meal.
- Turkish mercimek çorbası is a neighbour with a red-pepper butter finish; adas bi hamod (Levantine lemon lentil soup) uses whole brown lentils with chard.
- Yellow lentils give a paler soup, red lentils an orange one; both cook down without soaking.
- Make ahead: it thickens as it cools; thin it with hot water and re-season on reheating.
Adapted from Egyptian lentil soup (shorbet ades), Chez Nermine, Creamy lentil soup, shorbat ads, Sugar and Garlic, and طريقة شوربة العدس المصرية, Mawdoo3.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.