Ash Anar — Pomegranate and Lentil Soup with peppers

Name: Ash Anar — Pomegranate and Lentil Soup with peppers
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: persian
Ingredients: 25 ml olive oil; 150 g onion; 8 g garlic; 2 g ground turmeric; 4 g salt; 1 g black pepper; 1400 ml water; 120 g dried brown lentils; 70 g basmati rice; 50 g fresh parsley; 40 g fresh coriander; 250 ml pomegranate juice; 40 g pomegranate seeds; 120 g red bell pepper

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

25 ml olive oil
150 g onion
8 g garlic
2 g ground turmeric
4 g salt
1 g black pepper
1400 ml water
120 g dried brown lentils
70 g basmati rice
50 g fresh parsley
40 g fresh coriander
250 ml pomegranate juice
40 g pomegranate seeds
120 g red bell pepper

Remove seeds and cut the pepper 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.
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.
Add fully cooked beans, fresh herbs and variation vegetables; simmer 12–15 minutes until vegetables are tender.
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.
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.