Recipes |
SOUPS:
Egg and Lemon Soup
(Beid Bi Lamoun)
This is a great favorite all over
the Middle East. The Greeks call it "avgolemono". Egg
yolks alone or whole eggs are used as a thickening for this very
lemony soup.
- 7-1/2 cups chicken stock (see below)
- Salt and white pepper
- 1/3 cup rice, washed, or 1/3 cup Italian pastina, or 1/4
cup tapioca
- 3 egg yolks or 2 whole eggs
- Juice of 1-2 lemons
- 2 T. finely chopped parsley or chives (optional)
Make a rich chicken stock with leftover chicken bones or giblets.
If it is not strong enough, add a stock cube. Season with salt
and pepper.
Add the rice, pastina, or tapioca to the boiling stock and
simmer until tender. Beat the egg yolks or whole eggs and add
the lemon juice, beating constantly. Add a ladleful of the soup
to the egg mixture and beat well. Pour this back into the pan
slowly, still beating constantly. Keep the heat under the pan
very low, and cook the soup gently, stirring all the time, until
it thickens. On no account allow it to boil, or the eggs will
curdle. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more lemon juice if
necessary.
Garnish, if you like, with chopped parsley or chives, and
serve immediately.
In Greece, fish and meat stocks are also used to make the
soup, but this is uncommon in the other countries of the Middle
East.
From "A Book of Middle Eastern Food"
by Claudia Roden
Say Bismillah and eat!
Recipes

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