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Photo:Courtesy Photo
Courtesy Photo
Active Time:25 minsTotal Time:45 minsServings:6Jump to Nutrition Facts
Active Time:25 minsTotal Time:45 minsServings:6
Active Time:25 mins
Active Time:
25 mins
Total Time:45 mins
Total Time:
45 mins
Servings:6
Servings:
6
Jump to Nutrition Facts
Jump to recipe
Walk into my home on any Sunday in the winter and you’ll likely find a pot of soup bubbling away on the stove. It’s what I callSoup Sunday. Sometimes we have it for dinner that night, sometimes we don’t, but either way, I make a big batch so that we have enough to reheat a nutritious veggie-packed lunch any day of the week.
This cookbook has been a fixture in my home ever since I can remember. Farah is my dad’s aunt, and when the cookbook was published in 1972, my jida (grandmother in Arabic) bought each of her six children a copy.
My dad’s copy is plastered with his handwriting. As the youngest (and a boy), my dad wasn’t taught to cook. After he married my mom, a fine woman of German-Scottish heritage who didn’t know any Lebanese recipes, he realized he should learn how to make some of his childhood favorites. So he spent several days with his mom, watching her cook while referring to Farah’s cookbook and noting the subtle seasoning variations in the margins. He also wrote her ratio for making hummus on the inside back cover.
Farah was born in Portland, Oregon, but when her family visited Lebanon in the 1930s, they were stranded there as World War II began. She attended school in Beirut before returning to the U.S. Farah’s bio is kind of fascinating. She spoke six languages. She earned her Ph.D. in Middle East Studies. She was a Fulbright scholar and Miss Lebanon-America. And she wrote this cookbook to document her mother’s recipes.
The first editions of the cookbook were not flashy. It was spiral-bound. The pages were covered in short-and-sweet recipes, each with its name written in English, transliterated Arabic and Arabic. And instead of photographs, black and white sketches were peppered throughout.
The cookbook had been republished four more times before Farah passed away in 1988, selling more than 100,000 copies in total. And in December 2023, her daughter Lelia Habib-Kirske republished it in her honor, trading in the spiral binding for a more common bound one, and working with a friend to photograph many of the recipes.
The new edition is new in so many ways. Gone is the spiral binding. There are color photos on the cover and throughout the book. And everything looks delicious. As I paged through it, wondering what to make first, Adas bis-Silq (Lentil & Chard Soup) caught my eye.
Like mujadara, the soup gets a lot of its flavor from the onion, which is cooked separately until golden brown before being stirred into the soup at the end along with the chard. This is a step I don’t typically do; why not just cook the onion first then add the lentils and water and keep going? But I think it’s kind of genius—the bits of onion don’t get quite as soft, and they keep their caramelly flavor. Then a generous squeeze of lemon over each bowl brightens the flavor.
We devoured this soup and looked forward to eating it the next day for lunch, and I’ve already made it a second time.
When I spoke with Habib-Kirske over the phone about this recipe, she shared, “Oh we ate it all the time.” Her parents got divorced when she was younger, and Farah was a single working mom. The recipe was inexpensive, quick and fed them for multiple meals.
Like my dad, I scribbled a note alongside the recipe, suggesting the addition of cumin and crushed red pepper, not because it lacked flavor but because I thought it would enhance it. As I went to close the book, I noticed my jida’s hummus recipe, inscribed on the inside back cover just like my dad’s copy, and went to my cupboard to get my chickpeas and tahini.
Cook Mode(Keep screen awake)Ingredients6cupswater1cupbrown lentils, rinsed1largepotato, diced3tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling1mediumonion, coarsely chopped1teaspoonsalt, dividedGround pepper to taste1/2 bunchchard, coarsely chopped (about2cups)1lemon, cut into wedges
Cook Mode(Keep screen awake)
Ingredients
6cupswater
1cupbrown lentils, rinsed
1largepotato, diced
3tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1mediumonion, coarsely chopped
1teaspoonsalt, divided
Ground pepper to taste
1/2 bunchchard, coarsely chopped (about2cups)
1lemon, cut into wedges
Directions
Combine water and lentils in a large pot. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Add potato and cook for 10 minutes.
Stir the onion and chard into the soup. Cook until the potato is tender, about 5 minutes more. Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and more pepper, if desired. Serve with lemon wedges.
To make aheadRefrigerate for up to 3 days.
To make ahead
Refrigerate for up to 3 days.
EatingWell.com, January 2024
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Nutrition Facts(per serving)376Calories8gFat70gCarbs14gProtein
Nutrition Facts(per serving)
- Daily Values (DVs) are the recommended amounts of nutrients to consume each day. Percent Daily Value (%DV) found on nutrition labels tells you how much a serving of a particular food or recipe contributes to each of those total recommended amounts. Per the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the daily value is based on a standard 2,000 calorie diet. Depending on your calorie needs or if you have a health condition, you may need more or less of particular nutrients. (For example, it’s recommended that people following a heart-healthy diet eat less sodium on a daily basis compared to those following a standard diet.)
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a special diet for medical reasons, be sure to consult with your primary care provider or a registered dietitian to better understand your personal nutrition needs.
