Ash Anar — Pomegranate and Lentil Soup with carrots

Ash Anar — Pomegranate and Lentil Soup with carrots. Independently written modern Persian halal variation, with broad culinary inspiration from Najmieh Batmanglij, Joon: Persian Cooking Made Simple,…

  1. Peel and cut the carrots into 1 cm pieces. Finely chop onion and garlic; Rinse lentils and rice; chop the herbs. Add pomegranate juice with the water and save seeds for serving.
  2. Soften onion in oil for 6 minutes; add garlic and turmeric for 30 seconds. Add water, dried pulses or grains and main vegetables. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30–35 minutes until pulses and grains are tender.
  3. Add fully cooked beans, fresh herbs and variation vegetables; simmer 12–15 minutes until vegetables are tender.
  4. Stir in salt and pepper; thin with a little hot water if required. Divide into four bowls and serve. Cool leftovers in shallow containers and refrigerate at 4 °C within 2 hours.
  5. Photo: Kari Sullivan from Austin, TX — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Homemade_Vegan_Medeterrean_Lentil_Soup_(2264371304).jpg Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 Resized and converted to JPEG; no crop. Lentil soup illustrates the soup base, rather than the finished pomegranate version; colour, herbs and garnishes differ.