That Translator Can Cook: Freekeh Soup
A soup containing a nutritious ancient grain and meat, seasoned with garlic, bay leaves, and seven-spice blend.
It's been so cold outside and I'm still trying to get rid of those last five pounds, so I picked something that warms people up and is nutritious. I had this when I arrived in Hebron (Palestine) from Tel Aviv (Israel), with only 30 minutes of sleep due to jet lag and an empty stomach from all the puking I did along the way. I thought it was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted, and it tasted even better the second time when I squeezed half a lemon into it
Freekeh is an ancient grain dating back to ancient Egypt and Levant (Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon), and is immature (green) wheat. Supposedly, in 2300 BCE, a village’s crops were targeted by an enemy, and their green wheat was burned. The people rubbed away the burned chaff to reveal roasted wheat kernels and freekeh was born. The origin of the word ‘freekeh’ comes from the Arabic root meaning ‘to rub.’ Freekeh is also featured in a thirteenth-century Baghdad cookbook, in a recipe called ‘farikiyya’: meat is fried in oil and braised with water, salt, and cinnamon; while dried coriander is mixed with the freekeh and cooked. Then the dish is served with cumin, cinnamon, and lamb tail fat. Yum!
Because freekeh is harvested at an earlier stage of development, it contains higher levels of fiber, protein and certain minerals than more mature, typically processed wheat. It is a great source of manganese (an important cofactor for several enzymes), lutein and zeaxanthin (good for eye health).
Here’s how to make this nutritious soup, just in time for the cold weather. This recipe and picture belong to Fatima.
Steps
Add the olive oil to a preheated pressure cooker and sauté the minced onion. Then, add the bay leaves and sauté them a bit.
Add the chicken or desired meat and pan-fry it.
Add all the spices and salt, then stir well.
Next, add the washed and cleaned freekeh and stir.
Add the boiling water and stir. Then, cover the pressure cooker and let it simmer for a half an hour until the meat or chicken is cooked all the way through. Now the soup is ready!
Serve hooooot
Ingredients
1 cup of cracked freekeh (cleaned and washed)
1 chicken, cut into quarters, or a cut of meat of your choice
1 large onion, minced
4 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of salt
1.5 tablespoons of seven spice blend or curry powder
0.5 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of cumin
0.5 teaspoon of garlic powder
4 bay leaves
1.5 liter of boiling water or more if desired
Translators’ Discussion:
“Washed and cleaned” seems redundant, but I maintained the phrasing because ‘cleaning’ refers to picking through the freekeh and taking out foreign objects (i.e. pebbles) and the like. What do you all think? Does another word besides “cleaned” work better?
I used “seven-spice blend” for بهارات مشكلة, even though I have seen it simply being referred to as “Baharat” (“spices”) in English. Would you expand on what the exact spices are or provide a link to a seven-spice blend recipe? Or would you leave it as is?
I’m having trouble with the phrase “على النار” which, in general, I believe to mean “on the stove,” “on the burner,” or something you’re cooking is being heated. In this recipe, here is how I dealt with “على النار”:
في قدر الضغط على النار = in a preheated pressure cooker
نغلق طنجرة الضغط ونتر كها على النار = cover the pressure cooker and let it simmer
How would you all phrase “على النار” in these instances, and in general?