Name: Tomato Soup with Rice (Shorbat Tamata bit-Timman)
Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings
Cuisine: Iraqi
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon salt; 3 heaped tablespoons (one 6 oz/175 g can) tomato paste; or one 15 oz/425 g can tomato sauce; Chopped parsley; ¾ cup (6 oz/175 g) rice, washed, soaked for 30 minutes and broken by rubbing between the fingers; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; 1 lb (450 g) lamb chunks on the bone or chicken pieces; 2 tablespoons oil; 1 medium onion, chopped

Preparation info

Makes
4 to 6
servings

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Delights from the Garden of Eden

By Nawal Nasrallah

Published 2019

About

Before the arrival of the tomato in the region in the eighteenth century, this soup was made white, as described in al-Baghdadi’s thirteenth-century recipe Shorba (Arberry). Try this modern version. It is smooth and comforting.

Ingredients

1 lb (450 g) lamb chunks on the bone or chicken pieces
1 medium onion, chopped

Method

Trim fat off meat or chicken, put it in a medium pot, and cover with cold water by about 5in/13cm. Bring to a quick boil, skimming as needed. Lower heat to medium and let boil gently until meat is cooked, about 45 minutes, less for chicken. Fit a sieve over a bowl and pour meat broth through to strain it. Set aside.
In a heavy medium pot, sauté onion in oil until