Ingredients
The base
- 300 gbrown or green lentils
- rinsed
- 150 gcoarse bulgur
- 2onions, chopped
- 4garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 tablespoonsghee or oil
The jameed
- 200 gdried jameed
- broken up and soaked
- or 300 g thick strained yoghurt
- with extra salt
The seasoning
- 1 teaspoonground cumin
- 1 teaspoonground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoonturmeric
- black pepper
- salt, carefully
- about 1.5 litres water
To finish
- fried onion, to scatter
- olive oil, to drizzle
- flatbread alongside
Directions
- Taste it before adding any at all. Season it only at the very end. Taste it carefully before you do. Thick strained yoghurt can be used. Add the jameed liquid off the boil. Stir it in constantly as it goes. Keep it below a simmer afterward. Never let it boil hard ever again. Brown or green lentils are used. Break the jameed into small pieces. It is genuinely rock hard when dry.
- Break it with a hammer or heavy knife. Wrap it in a cloth to stop it flying. Take real care while doing that. Cover the pieces with warm water. It needs several hours to soften. Warm water speeds it considerably. Change the water once if very salty. Work the softened jameed into the water.
- Rub it between your fingers to break it. It should become a smooth white liquid. Strain out any hard lumps remaining. Rinse the lentils in cold water. Rinse them until the water runs clearer. Pick out any small stones or grit. It takes a moment and is worth it. Cover the lentils with water in a pot. Bring them up to a gentle simmer. Give them about thirty full minutes.
- Salt slows their softening considerably. Season it only at the very end. Frying the onion is done meanwhile. Heat the ghee in a wide frying pan. Add all the chopped onion to it. Cook it for about twelve minutes. The onion should soften and turn golden.
- Add the crushed garlic to the pan. Give it about one full minute. Add the cumin, coriander and turmeric. Heat releases their aromatic oils. Give them about thirty seconds only. Stir them constantly so they do not burn.
- Tip the onion mixture into the lentils. Add the bulgur to the pot as well. Add more water in as it does so. It should stay soupy rather than stiff. Let it simmer for about twenty minutes. Stir it often so it does not catch. Take the pot right off the boil. It must be below a simmer first. Let it settle for a minute or two. Pour the jameed liquid in slowly.
- Stir it constantly as it goes in. Pour it in a thin steady stream. Keep stirring right through the pour. Take a full minute over the pour. They stir hot soup into the cold liquid.
- Warm it gently without boiling it. Keep it well below a proper simmer. It should steam rather than bubble. Add hot water if it is too thick. Simmer it gently if it is too thin. Taste it and season very carefully. It often needs none at all added. Add black pepper generously though.
- Taste again before adding any salt. Serving it is always done hot. Ladle it into deep warm bowls. Scatter fried onion over the top. It keeps three days refrigerated.
Technique
- Jameed is extremely salty, being preserved largely by that salt, so the soup needs almost no added salt at all — season only at the very end and taste carefully first. Do not salt the lentils while they cook either, since salt slows their softening considerably.
- Yoghurt splits when boiled, curdling into grainy lumps. Take the pot off the boil and let it settle before the jameed goes in, pour it in a thin steady stream while stirring constantly through the whole pour, and then keep it below a simmer so it steams rather than bubbles. Tempering — stirring hot soup into the cold jameed liquid first, then returning it to the pot — is the safest route.
- Break the dried jameed up wrapped in a cloth so pieces do not fly, since it is genuinely rock hard, then soak it several hours or overnight in warm water before working it smooth.
Substitutions
- Thick strained yoghurt with extra salt stands in for jameed, giving a milder less sour result; it is not the same thing at all.
- Some cooks stir in one direction only and others add a little cornflour to stabilise the yoghurt; constant stirring matters most of all.
Variations
- Use coarse bulgur, which holds its shape through the long cooking, rather than fine bulgur which dissolves entirely and thickens the soup into a paste; brown or green lentils likewise hold up where red ones collapse, though some collapse is welcome for body.
- Jameed is yoghurt strained, salted heavily and dried hard in the sun — a genuine preservation technique that mattered enormously to herding people, since fresh milk spoils within hours in heat where dried salted yoghurt keeps for months. The atlas also carries mansaf, built on the same product.
- Rinse the lentils until the water runs clearer and pick out any small stones, which dried pulses often carry.
History
Bedouin and village winter soup in which jameed dissolves into the lentils for sourness and protein.
Frequently asked questions
What is Rashoof?
Rashoof is a soup & stew from Jordan: lentil and bulgur soup enriched with dried jameed yoghurt. Bedouin and village winter soup in which jameed dissolves into the lentils for sourness and protein.
How long does Rashoof take to make?
Rashoof takes 20 minutes plus soaking of preparation and 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Rashoof?
Yes, within limits. Thick strained yoghurt with extra salt stands in for jameed, giving a milder less sour result; it is not the same thing at all. Some cooks stir in one direction only and others add a little cornflour to stabilise the yoghurt; constant stirring matters most of all.
What is the most important thing to get right in Rashoof?
Taste it before adding any at all. Season it only at the very end. Taste it carefully before you do. Thick strained yoghurt can be used. Add the jameed liquid off the boil. Stir it in constantly as it goes. Keep it below a simmer afterward. Never let it boil hard ever again. Brown or green lentils are used. Break the jameed into small pieces. It is genuinely rock hard when dry.
