Even though the week ends tomorrow, this still counts! Right? So this week’s meal of the week definitely fits the criteria of using up food that I might not have gotten to. This is an adaptation on Arabic Shorobat Adas, a red lentil soup, and it’s very simple to make. The original version doesn’t call for chicken or peas, but I had them both, so in they went! The only purchased ingredients were the onions and the rice, so the total cost was $3.29 for five quarts. Without using leftovers, the price would have been $5.44 for 5 quarts.
For lunch every day we get one cup of soup a small home made pita to eat with it. If you’re not watching the budget, it’s really best with some strained yogurt.
Recipe:
.5 lb small dice onions
3 cloves minced garlic
olive oil
1 tbl ground cumin
1.5 cups whole dried red lentils, rinsed.
.75 cups rice
3 quarts water or stock (approximate…keep and eye on the soup)
.75 lb chicken breast*
6 oz peas*
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt to taste
1. Saute the onion in olive oil until tender. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the cumin. Add half of the water.
2. Add the lentils, rice and chicken. Cover with water and bring to a low simmer (don’t boil chicken unless you like tough chicken). Simmer on low until the lentils are just starting to get tender, mushy and yellow. At this point the chicken should be fully cooked.
3. Remove the chicken breast and shred with a fork, add back to the soup. Add the peas, coriander, and cayenne. Salt to taste. Serve with bread and a little bit of lemon juice (or yogurt if you have it!)
Care to share?
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