Moroccan Meat soup with Red Lentils

 

A rich and healthy soup enriched with vegetables like potatoes, carrots, lentils and Meat. Its a complete meal in itself,very simple to prepare, and goes extremely well with a piece of bread or rice. I would say its a "must try" recipe for meat-lovers. 

Lets go straight to the recipe now....

Ingredients for 2-3 persons

Meat pieces - 250 gms ((preferably big pieces with bones)

Red lentils - 100 gms

Red onions - 2 (medium size, finely chopped)

Olive oil - 60 ml

Water - 1.5 lit

Potatoes - 2 (cut in small pieces)

Carrots - 2 (cut small)

Corriander leaves - 1 cup (chopped finely)

Salt - as desired 

Pepper powder- as desired

chilli powder - as desired

Lemon juice - from 1/2 lemon

Cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker, saute the onions, add meat pieces, salt, pepper powder, cinnamon powder, chilli powder together until the onions get golden brown.

2. Add the red lentils, potatoes, carrot and water and pressure cook until the meat and lentils get tender.

3. Once the meat is done, take it out from the broth and separate the flesh from the bones.

4. Puree the broth using a blender into a smooth consisitency. If the consistency is thick, add more water to it and then blend it.

5. Finally add the shredded meat to it  and cook for another 2 minutes.

6. Serve the soup with chopped corriander leaves, and with a few drops of lemon squeezed.

Tip:

Cinnamon is the most commonly used spice in Moroccan cuisine. 

This goes to the event "Souper Sundays" hosted by Debinhawaii

 

Lamb Goulash

Goulash (pronounced as Gu-yash), has its name originating from Hungarian gulyas, the word for a cattle stockman. It was traditionally a thick stew made by the herdsman. Its considered to be the national dish of Hungary. Today it is prepared in both soup and stew forms with a variety of combinations of vegetables, onion and beef/lamb/pasta depending upon its ethnicity. The real flavor of all the vegetables and the meat is retained, since I do not use any spice at all ! Flour is used to thicken the goulash, which gives it a starchy texture and a blander taste.
To sum it up, its a complete, wholesome and a healthy meal in itself, with the potatoes and flour providing the starch and the meat providing the required proteins for the body.

Ingredients

Lamb goulash Meat/ Lamb shoulder(boneless) - 1 kg
Onion (chopped) - 2
Garlic pods - 3
Spring onions - 3-4
Potato - 3
Carrot - 3
Celery - 1/2
Olive oil - 3 tbsp
All purpose flour - 3 tbsp
Parsley(fresh, finely chopped or frozen) - 1 cup
Dill - 1 cup
Salt - according to taste


Preparation
1. Cut the lamb into small cube sized pieces.
2. Chop the onions, garlic pods, and spring onions.
3. Wash and cut the carrots, Potatoes and Celery into thin long strips.

4. In a pan, put the lamb cubes and add water just sufficient enough to cover them. Cook for 5 minutes and then drain away the water.
5. In a different pan, heat the olive oil and cook the lamb cubes in it for about 3 minutes by constantly stirring them all around.
6. Add the onions and garlic.
7. Sift the flour over the lamb and mix thoroughly.

8. Add 1 litre of water to it and cook for another 15 minutes.
9. Now add all the other ingredients (spring onions, carrot, potato, celery, parsley, dill, salt and pepper) and cook until the meat is tender. (I pressure cooked it to make it faster!)

 10. Serve it with boiled or mashed potatoes, polenta or alternatively, as a stand-alone dish with bread !

Tips : 
1. You can as well add your desired spices like paprika powder or pepper powder to make it spicier !
2. If you do not want to add flour, add mashed potatoes instead to make it thicker and smoother.
3. To make it a thin soup, use water or chicken broth.

This Stew goes to the event "Souper Sundays" hosted by Debinhawaii
Its my pleasure to add this wonderful Souper Sundays logo :)

I would also like to share it with Taste of Pearl City, of Umm Mymoonah, who is running a wonderful event for Ramadhan. By now, everybody would have definitely known about this great event going on ;) 

Ezogelin Soup

Ezogelin Soup is another common soup in Turkish cuisine, the main ingredients being Bulgur and red lentils. It is also the most frequently cooked soup in my home. Bulgur wheat, rich in fiber and protein has interesting natural weight-loss benefits. The origin of this soup is attributed to Ezo, the bride from Gaziantep, the sixth largest city in Turkey. Its the most simplest and healthy soup and could be made quickly.

Ingredients (for 4-6 persons)

Bulgur - 100 gms
Red lentils - 150 gms
Butter - 50 gms
Onions (chopped) - 3
Carrot (large, cut into small pieces) - 1
Tomato puree - 2 tbsp
Paprika powder - 1tsp or chilli powder(according to the taste)
Dried mint leaves - 1tsp
Water - 2.5 litres
Salt - to taste
Pepper powder - to taste

Preparation
1. Heat the butter and saut the onions and carrot until the onions turn transparent.
2. Wash the Bulgur wheat and red lentils, drain excess water and add to the onions. Cook for a minute.
3. Add the tomato puree, salt, pepper, dried mint leaves, salt, pepper powder, water.
4. Pressure cook them until the red lentils become soft.
5. Squeeze out a few drops of lemon to the soup and serve warm !

Tip : This soup goes well with breads and makes a complete and wholesome meal. The kids would love it too.
If you dont have dried mint leaves, use chopped fresh mint leaves instead.

This recipe goes to the event A.W.E.D Turkey, hosted by the the taste space, originally started by DK.

This goes to the event "Souper Sundays" hosted by Debinhawaii
Its my pleasure to add this wonderful Souper Sundays logo :)

Red Lentil Soup

Its the most common Turkish soup.  A Turkish meal definitely has a soup, bread, (as a starter), a Salad, followed by a Main dish, which finally ends with a dessert. This soup is very easy to make, you could skip 1 or 2 ingredients and it still tastes good ! Whenever I bake a bread, i make such thick soups (which i bet is a perfect combination ! ), along with a Salad and i get a very complete and healthy meal! 

Ingredients for 2-4 persons

Redgram - 200gms
Vegetable stock - 300 ml
Paprika powder/chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (according to your taste buds)
Salt
Onion - 1
Potato -1
Carrot - 1
raw rice - 1tbsp
Celery 1 (optional)
Water - 2 cups
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
garlic pod -1
white bread slices -2 (cut into small cubes)

For garnishing
parsley(fresh or frozen) - optional

Method
1. Cut onion,potato,carrot into small pieces.
2. Pressure cook or slow cook together redgram, onion, potato, carrot, celery, rice, paprika powder, Vegetable stock, water, salt,  until tender.
3. Now blend the cooked soup with a blender. If the soup is thick, add some more water and then blend it. You could as well leave small pieces of carrot and potato unblended.

4. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil, add the crushed garlic pod, and the small cubes of the bread and fry it for few seconds until the bread pieces become golden brown. If you dont have breads, skip it and pour over just the crushed garlic fried in oil.
5. Garnish the soup with parsley.

Serve it hot with a fresh bread or Chapatis !

This recipe goes to the event A.W.E.D Turkey, hosted by the the taste space, originally started by DK.