sumac and herb soup

On the first day of spring, this bowl of sumac and herb soup heralds new beginnings. It’s not a “warm your toes by the fire soup”, all rich and velvety like a butternut squash soup. This is sharp (sumac) and fresh (herbs) with layers of flavour (freekeh) and substance (lentils) which will have you rightly reminding the root vegetables in your kitchen that their days are over (for a bit at least). If your pots of mint, parsley and chives are just beginning to show some leaf after the cold wet winter, trim their first flush for this soup. Broad leaf sorrel? Even better, soft leafed herbs rather than woody ones are what you need. No stock required, this is light and fresh, it says “spring is here!”

Having tasted this soup made by an Iranian friend, we then found a recipe by an Iranian food blogger, called Azita Mehran @turmericandsaffron. In Iran, as in Lebanon, herbs are not used as garnishes, they are key ingredients. So look out for Turkish, Kurdish or Indian shops where you’ll find bunches of herbs at a much more reasonable price than those shoved unceremoniously into supermarket plastic bags. Wrapped in a clean dishcloth, they’ll last much longer in your fridge than in a plastic bag. If you’re lucky enough to have some pots of herbs in your garden, the soup will taste even better. 

The other key ingredient is sumac. Here it’s used in abundance – not as a seasoning. The sumac, a spice as much loved in Lebanon as in Iran, is soaked in water for an hour to impart its naturally lemony taste. An antioxidant, sumac‘s citrusy taste is what lifts the lentils. We added Palestinian freekeh, for its smokey taste and nutty texture, but rice is equally good. The combination of lentils with rice or freekeh makes a complete protein, handy if you’re trying to reduce your meat consumption. Since it is an Iranian recipe, we added Zejd’s saffron, instead of turmeric, to the soft onions, garlic and dried mint. It added another note of 

serves