Name: Spicy Lentils (Yakhni ‘l-‘Adas)
Yield: Makes 6 servings
Cuisine: Iraqi
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon each ground cumin, ground coriander, and baharat; 1 heaped tablespoon tomato paste diluted in ¼ cup (60 ml) hot water; or ¼ cup (60 ml) tomato sauce; ¼ cup (1½ oz/45 g) chopped onion, browned in 1 tablespoon oil; 1 lb (450 g) lamb or beef cut into 1in/2.5cm cubes; Juice of one lemon/lime; or 1 teaspoon noomi Basra; ½ teaspoon ground ginger; 2 cups (16 oz/450 g) shelled red lentils, picked over and washed; ¼ teaspoon chili powder, or to taste; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; 1½ teaspoons salt; ½ teaspoon toasted whole aniseeds; 2 cloves garlic, grated; 2 medium tomatoes (about 1½ cups/9 oz/250 g), peeled and chopped; 2 tablespoons oil; ½ cup (4 oz/115 g) whole, unshelled brown lentils, washed; 2 medium onions (about 1½ cups/9 oz/250 g), coarsely chopped; ½ teaspoon turmeric

Preparation info

Makes
6
servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Delights from the Garden of Eden

By Nawal Nasrallah

Published 2019

About

Traditionally, this dish is cooked with lamb, but you can leave out the meat and still have a nourishing and appetizing meal. Keep spices to the minimum, or use all those suggested below, for a spicier and more aromatic dish. In the neighboring countries, such as Iran and Turkey, yakhni simply means stew. In Iraq, it is used to describe stews which are thick and rather mushy in consistency, due to prolonged simmering. The word itself is sometimes used metaphorically. If we describe a