4-Ingredient Adas bis-Silq (Lentil & Chard Soup)

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Even though this lentil soup is made with just a handful of ingredients, it’s incredibly flavorful. If you have a special bottle of olive oil, drizzle some on top of each bowl before serving. If you can’t find or don’t like chard, kale or collards would be equally delicious. Excerpted with permission from Lebanese Cuisine by Madelain Farah and Leila Habib-Kirske, published by Hatherleigh Press.

a recipe photo of the Lentil & Chard Soup
Photo:

Courtesy Photo

Active Time:
25 mins
Total Time:
45 mins
Servings:
6

Walk into my home on any Sunday in the winter and you’ll likely find a pot of soup bubbling away on the stove. It’s what I call Soup Sunday. Sometimes we have it for dinner that night, sometimes we don’t, but either way, I make a big batch so that we have enough to reheat a nutritious veggie-packed lunch any day of the week. 

A few weeks ago I was looking for soupspiration (that’s a word, right?) and decided to peruse my bookcase of cookbooks. My eye landed on one that I’ve had for decades, Lebanese Cuisine by Madelain Farah.

This cookbook has been a fixture in my home ever since I can remember. Farah is my dad’s aunt, and when the cookbook was published in 1972, my jida (grandmother in Arabic) bought each of her six children a copy. 

My dad’s copy is plastered with his handwriting. As the youngest (and a boy), my dad wasn’t taught to cook. After he married my mom, a fine woman of German-Scottish heritage who didn’t know any Lebanese recipes, he realized he should learn how to make some of his childhood favorites. So he spent several days with his mom, watching her cook while referring to Farah’s cookbook and noting the subtle seasoning variations in the margins. He also wrote her ratio for making hummus on the inside back cover.

Farah was born in Portland, Oregon, but when her family visited Lebanon in the 1930s, they were stranded there as World War II began. She attended school in Beirut before returning to the U.S. Farah’s bio is kind of fascinating. She spoke six languages. She earned her Ph.D. in Middle East Studies. She was a Fulbright scholar and Miss Lebanon-America. And she wrote this cookbook to document her mother’s recipes. 

The first editions of the cookbook were not flashy. It was spiral-bound. The pages were covered in short-and-sweet recipes, each with its name written in English, transliterated Arabic and Arabic. And instead of photographs, black and white sketches were peppered throughout.

The cookbook had been republished four more times before Farah passed away in 1988, selling more than 100,000 copies in total. And in December 2023, her daughter Lelia Habib-Kirske republished it in her honor, trading in the spiral binding for a more common bound one, and working with a friend to photograph many of the recipes.

The new edition is new in so many ways. Gone is the spiral binding. There are color photos on the cover and throughout the book. And everything looks delicious. As I paged through it, wondering what to make first, Adas bis-Silq (Lentil & Chard Soup) caught my eye.

In my little family, we're all die-hard lentil lovers. Whenever we get home from vacation, I often make Instant-Pot Mujadara. And one of the soups I often make in the winter is Lemony Lentil & Chard Soup, inspired by a dish at a Lebanese restaurant I worked at in my 20s. Adas bis-Silq is heartier, studded with chunks of potato, and made with brown lentils (or you could use green or black), which hold their shape, rather than red lentils, which break down as they cook. 

Like mujadara, the soup gets a lot of its flavor from the onion, which is cooked separately until golden brown before being stirred into the soup at the end along with the chard. This is a step I don’t typically do; why not just cook the onion first then add the lentils and water and keep going? But I think it’s kind of genius—the bits of onion don’t get quite as soft, and they keep their caramelly flavor. Then a generous squeeze of lemon over each bowl brightens the flavor. 

We devoured this soup and looked forward to eating it the next day for lunch, and I’ve already made it a second time.

When I spoke with Habib-Kirske over the phone about this recipe, she shared, “Oh we ate it all the time.” Her parents got divorced when she was younger, and Farah was a single working mom. The recipe was inexpensive, quick and fed them for multiple meals.

Like my dad, I scribbled a note alongside the recipe, suggesting the addition of cumin and crushed red pepper, not because it lacked flavor but because I thought it would enhance it. As I went to close the book, I noticed my jida's hummus recipe, inscribed on the inside back cover just like my dad’s copy, and went to my cupboard to get my chickpeas and tahini.

Ingredients

  • 6 cups water

  • 1 cup brown lentils, rinsed

  • 1 large potato, diced

  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

  • 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

  • 1 teaspoon salt, divided

  • Ground pepper to taste

  • 1/2 bunch chard, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)

  • 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions

  1. Combine water and lentils in a large pot. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Add potato and cook for 10 minutes.

  2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste; cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Add water by the tablespoon and/or reduce heat, if necessary, to prevent burning.

  3. Stir the onion and chard into the soup. Cook until the potato is tender, about 5 minutes more. Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and more pepper, if desired. Serve with lemon wedges.

To make ahead

Refrigerate for up to 3 days.

EatingWell.com, January 2024

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

376 Calories
8g Fat
70g Carbs
14g Protein
Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe 6
Serving Size about 1 1/4 cups
Calories 376
% Daily Value *
Total Carbohydrate 70g 25%
Dietary Fiber 12g 44%
Total Sugars 9g
Protein 14g 29%
Total Fat 8g 10%
Saturated Fat 1g 5%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Vitamin A 181µg
Vitamin C 115mg 128%
Vitamin D 0µg
Vitamin E 3mg 17%
Folate 208µg
Vitamin K 204µg
Sodium 483mg 21%
Calcium 111mg 9%
Iron 6mg 32%
Magnesium 123mg 29%
Potassium 1537mg 33%
Zinc 2mg 18%
Vitamin B12 0µg
Omega 3 0g

Nutrition information is calculated by a registered dietitian using an ingredient database but should be considered an estimate.

* Daily Values (DVs) are the recommended amounts of nutrients to consume each day. Percent Daily Value (%DV) found on nutrition labels tells you how much a serving of a particular food or recipe contributes to each of those total recommended amounts. Per the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the daily value is based on a standard 2,000 calorie diet. Depending on your calorie needs or if you have a health condition, you may need more or less of particular nutrients. (For example, it’s recommended that people following a heart-healthy diet eat less sodium on a daily basis compared to those following a standard diet.)

(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a special diet for medical reasons, be sure to consult with your primary care provider or a registered dietitian to better understand your personal nutrition needs.

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