With the weather turning chilly, most people are starting to change their cooking behavior to cold weather recipes. Soups, stews and other comfort food recipes are taking over the tables across the country. If you are looking for Jewish recipes to warm you up this month then try these out.
Basic Bean Soup
Ingredients
1 can of pinto or navy beans
1 pound of bacon, thick cut and fried to a crisp
1 can of low sodium organic chicken stock
2 carrots, peeled and diced
Directions
Fry the bacon to a crisp and drain off the extra fat. Dice the bacon and place into a soup pot.
Add the beans, chicken stock and diced carrots to the broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer until the carrots are tender.
Pour half of the soup into a glass bowl and use an emersion blender to blend the beans until smooth. Then pour this back into the soup pot and stir to incorporate. Garnish with parsley or cilantro.
Soup Making Tips
Soup is easier to make than you might think. For the best tasting soup cook it on low heat for a long time. Also for added flavor use soup bones. They add taste without adding a lot of extra calories.
For a great recipe for a simple white soup visit the Recipes Recipe blog.
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I became interested in red lentil soup when Dr. Perricone talked about this food on Oprah’s show. He listed lentils as #4 on his list of SuperFoods and said that red lentils were more nutritious than the other lentils. They are a great source of protein, high in fiber and antioxidants, and low in fat. He suggests not cooking lentils with salt because it may toughen them, but I did not find this to be true because the red lentils actually break down into mush like peas.
From Egypt to Jerusalem across the waters to the United States and Canada, Egyptians, Israelis and Americans love this vegetarian soup. One could call it a “Middle Eastern Peace Dish!!” Muslims eat it during Ramadan after their fast. Shepardic Jews in Israel enjoy the flavors, and Vegans in the U.S. love it because the soup can be made with vegetable broth.
There are many variations to this recipe: Baghdadi Jews from India use a teaspoon of turmeric plus two dried chopped chilies or a healthy pinch of cayenne pepper. In Egypt some people serve the soup with lime wedges and chopped cilantro. And Syrians spice their soup with cumin, garlic and garnish it with fresh lemon wedges.
There is a legend that Moses gave his people lentils to help them survive their long exodus from Egypt.
Ingredients
1 large onion, coarse or finely chopped
2 sticks celery cut in small pieces
1 cup carrots cut in small slices
2 cups red lentils - you can use the whole or split
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon pepper depending how spicy you like your soup
9 1/2 cups meat, chicken or vegetable broth - If you use water then add one bullion cube per cup. (Most boullion has MSG in it. ) See comment below.
1 teaspoon turmeric or cumin
juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle
Directions
In a soup pot put the onion, celery, carrots, lentils, liquid, salt and pepper.
Simmer 1/2 hour, or until the lentils are very soft.
Add water if you see that the soup needs thinning.
Stir in turmeric or cumin, lemon juice after 20 minutes. Add seasoning to taste.
Place the olive oil on the table so that people can drizzle some on their soup.
Serves 6 to 8 people
This soup was absolutely delicious and we so enjoyed it while hibernating from Chicagoland’s cold winter day of 12 degrees, winds at 10-20 miles per hour! And showers and snow expected tonight. This has been an extremely cold, snowy winter. Great days for Jewish red lentil soup!
For more ancient Jewish recipes see our ebook, From Bubbie’s Kitchen.
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