Red Lentil Soup Recipe

It is freezing cold in Amman, where I live, this week! We are experiencing a cold, polar front accompanied with much rain and some snow. My girls are overly excited about the snow… I just hope that it snows enough that they could play and make a snow man!!! In this freezing, cold weather, all I could think of all morning is yummy Red Lentil Soup.

Red Lentil Soup is a traditional Middle Eastern Cuisine dish!! It is so much part of our Middle Eastern food culture, that Red Lentil Soup is the customary soup served during Ramadan at the start of the “Ftour” meal. In Arabic, Red Lentil Soup is called “Shorabet 3adas – شوربة عدس” whereby the “3” stands for an Arabic letter similar to A, but deeper in sound.

There are several versions of this famous Middle Eastern Red Lentil Soup. Some versions are quite basic and use a few basic ingredients only, while others include vegetables such as potatoes or carrots. The spices used to spice up this famous Red Lentil Soup also vary from using just cumin, to adding curry, or mixed spices.

Some Red Lentil Soup recipes use coriander both dried and fresh, while others don’t use coriander in the recipe but for garnishing only. Other recipes use parsley.

The basic ingredients constant in all versions of red lentil soup are: split red lentils, onions and lemon.

Today’s recipe of Red Lentil Soup uses carrots. However, I do sometimes prepare this famous Arabic soup with potatoes, or both potatoes and carrots. I also sometimes prepare the basic version without any additions. Whichever version of Red Lentil Soup you use, you can be sure that you will end up with a delicious and nutritionist soup… comfort soup at its best!!!

The nice thing about Red Lentil Soup is that it is a meal by itself! Serve Red Lentil Soup with some toasted Arabic pita bread or some garlic bread and you have a fulfilling meal.  

Portion below is for 6-8 servings depending on size of soup bowl.

Top Recipes of 2012

Two weeks ago I celebrated www.dish-away.com first year! Have been thinking for a while what to do for this occasion?

This past year was quite interesting. I started this blog as a hobby (it still is), and was overwhelmed by the encouragement and support I got from so many people! In 2012, I also succumbed  to the many requests I received for sharing my recipes in Arabic which resulted in opening my Arabic blog www.fattoush.me in April of 2012.

To mark the end of 2012, I would like to share with you the top 10 recipes. I’ve been thinking for a while how to determine the top recipes. Do I use the number of visits the recipe received? or how many times it was “Liked” or “Shared”? I finally decided to use the number of views as it is more straightforward and subjective.

So here begins the countdown, Hope you enjoy. 

Sugar Glaze Recipe

Cookies are delicious by themselves!!! So much so, that when you have one it is pretty difficult to keep it at that. Normally, I have difficulty keeping my hand at bay from grabbing the second even third cookie! This is for the average normal cookie, you can imagine what is the case when the cookie looks even better all glazed up!!!

Sugar glaze is that extra thing that transforms your cookies from super to superb!!  Sugar glaze is the make-up of cookies.  Cookies are great as they are, but with a little sugar glaze make-up they are WOW!!

What is great about this sugar glaze is how easy it is to make and apply!! These butter cookies above where glazed by my 9 and 14 year old daughters.  A fun activity that is sure to keep your little ones engaged.

Sugar glaze pairs perfectly with butter cookies! You can also use it with ginger cookies or any other cookie recipe you desire.

Butter Cookies Recipe

These butter cookies are a special request from a fan I feel so happy when I get a request for one of my favorite recipes… it gives me a good EXCUSE to prepare and indulge my sweet tooth, and these butter cookies are a perfect example. I love them!!! But given the calories involved, I try to only prepare these yummy butter cookies when there is an occasion, and getting a special request for these butter cookies is certainly a good enough occasion!

I noticed that some refer to these butter cookies as sugar cookies; I still haven’t figured out what is the different between butter cookies and sugar cookies?!? Is it the ratio of butter to sugar? Anyway, whichever name you choose to call them, these classic white cookies - that I call butter cookies - taste good and can be beautifully decorated into exotic small yummy goodies.

The beauty of these cut-out butter cookies is that they can be prepared for any occasion. During Christmas time use Christmas tree, bells, snowflakes, and stars cutout cookie shapes. During Easter use bunny, egg and chicks cutout cookie shapes. Hearts for valentines and birthdays. Stars and crescent for Eid. There is no limit to the shapes and forms you can make with this simple dough!

Ginger Cut-out Cookies with a Middle Eastern Twist Recipe

One of the things I like most about Christmas is ginger cookies!!! I enjoy their spicy flavor and chewy texture. So I was very happy when I received requests to post the recipe for these amazing ginger cookies. 

Ginger cookies prepared in this part of the world (Middle East) are quite different than the ones prepared in the U.S. and Europe. The texture and taste is different and I am sure you will love them! 

The main difference is the type of molasses used. In the West sugarcane molasses is used for preparing Ginger cookies, while here in the East we use pomegranate molasses. This may seem as a small difference but in fact this one ingredient has a major affect on the taste of these cookies as well as on their texture.

Pomegranate molasses has this tangy, soury taste that is very different than the taste of sugarcane molasses. I discovered this the hard way!! In my country when we call for molasses in recipes, it is usually assumed that it is pomegranate molasses. Many years ago I tried for the first time to bake Ginger Bread, and, needless to say, I used pomegranate molasses. the result you ask??? DISASTROUS!!!  The cake was a piece of solid rock, and when I did manage to break a small piece of it, it was sooooo sour that probably eating a lemon was easier!!  It took me some time to figure out what went wrong!!! 

These Ginger Cookies prepared the Middle Eastern way are delicious... I would even dare say much more than the ones prepared with sugarcane molasses. Pomegranate molasses pairs beautifully with the spices called for in the Ginger Cookies recipe. Also, the texture of the final Ginger Cookies is more textured while they still remain chewy.    

If you want to prepare these cookies with sugar cane molasses, you will need to adjust the four (increase it).