1 lb /½ kg faba beans
1 tsp. salt
olive oil
wild vegetables (wild chicory, thistles,       
   wild mustard)
fried pepper (optional)
sliced sweet raw onion (optional)

Soak dried faba beans overnight. The next day put them in a saucepan with a generous amount of water, cover with a close-fitting lid. Bring to the boil and boil for about 1 hour. Remove any scum which forms with a slatted spoon. Repeat several times until no more froth is produced. Add salt and stir with a long wooden spoon; toss the saucepan every so often; add more water if necessary. When the faba beans look like curdled milk, add olive oil and stir.

Separately boil an abundant amount of salted water with wild vegetables until cooked. Drain. Arrange in a dish half faba bean mash and half vegetables. Pour a generous amount of olive oil over.

3 tbsp. butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 stalk celery with leaves, chopped
1 carrot, chopped (optional)
1 turnip, chopped (optional)
¾ lb/350 g lentils, washed
3 pints/1.5 liter water or meat stock
1 marrow bone, cracked
salt, black pepper

Taklia:
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed salt
2 tbsp. butter, oil or samna*
1 tbsp. coriander
pinch of cayenne pepper

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and soften the onion, celery, turnip and carrot. Add the lentils, water or stock and the marrow bone, bring to a boil and skim. Simmer gently in a covered pan until the lentils are soft (¾ to 1½ hours, depending on the quality and age of the lentils). It takes about 20 minutes in a pressure cooker. Small yellow or red lentils will disintegrate. Season with salt and pepper and add lemon juice and cumin to taste. Simmer for a few minutes longer, then remove marrow bone. Mash, sieve or liquidize to a purée. Return to saucepan. Add a little water for a thinner soup or evaporate by simmering for a thicker one. Serve with croutons of bread fried in oil with a clove or two of garlic and chopped fresh or dried mint.

Taklia sauce:
Fry crushed garlic and salt in butter until golden brown. Add coriander and cayenne, mix to a paste and fry for a few more minutes.

Variations:
1. Add about 2 oz rice and simmer for
15 minutes or until the rice is tender.
2. Instead of flavoring with cumin and
lemon juice, just before serving stir in a taklia (garlic) sauce.
3. Flavor with savory, thyme, parsley and oregano and 2 chopped tomatoes.

1½ cups lentils
2½ lbs/2.5 kg Swiss chard leaves or spinach
¾ cup chopped onions
¾ cup olive oil
1 bunch coriander or 1 stalk celery
5 garlic cloves
1½ tsp. salt
¾ cup lemon juice (or to taste) or
2 tbsp. tomato purée in ¾ cup water
1 tsp. flour

Wash the lentils and drain overnight.
Wash again in the morning and pick over. Cook with water to cover in a pressure cooker for 10 minutes. Add chopped chard leaves, a few stems and 1 cup water. Cook under pressure for another 8 minutes. Meanwhile, fry onions in olive oil and garlic crushed with salt. Add washed and chopped coriander or celery. Add with the onions to the lentil/chard mixture. Stir. Add lemon juice mixed with 1 tsp. flour to chicken sauce. Simmer until of a thick soup consistency. Add seasonings. Serve hot.

Variation: Boil washed lentils in a saucepan until tender, add hot water as necessary. Combine lentils with chard, fried onions and garlic mixture. Continue as above.

Serves 6

½ lb/200 g ground beef
1 small onion, grated
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. salt
4-5 cups water
1½ tsp. salt
¼ cup black-eyed peas
¼ cup lentils
1 cup noodles
½ tsp. salt
½ cup parsley, chopped
1 tbsp. dried mint
¼ tsp. pepper
¾ tsp. cinnamon

Mix the meat with the grated onion and seasoning. Form into walnut-sized meat balls. Boil the water in a 3-quart pot. Add salt with black-eyed peas and cook for 15 minutes. Add the meatballs, lentils, noodles, additional pepper and parsley, simmer on a medium heat for about 35 minutes. Powder the dried mint and mix with the cinnamon and pepper. Add to soup and serve.

Serves 5-6

Famous old Lebanese winter dish

1 cup lentils
1 cup chickpeas
½ cup dried black beans
1 cup rice
½ cup olive oil
½ cup minced onions
1½ tsp. salt
½ tsp caraway seeds
5 cups water

In pressure cooker: Wash and soak beans, lentils and chickpeas together overnight. Drain, cook with water and salt for 15 minutes under pressure. Boil rice separately, add to lentil/bean mixture. Add onions (fried in oil until slightly browned). Simmer uncovered until well blended. Serve hot.
In a saucepan: Soak all beans (but not lentils) overnight. Wash. Cook beans and lentils together with plenty of water. When tender, add rice and continue simmering until rice is tender. Add onions which have been fried in oil, salt and caraway seeds. Simmer together for a few minutes. Serve.

Serves 10

1 tbsp. butter
2 onions, chopped
1½ cups red lentils
8 cups veal stock
salt
1 tsp. paprika
4 tbsp. minced parsley
¼ cup wine vinegar

Roux:
1 tbsp. flour (sifted)
1 tbsp. butter
3 egg yolks
1 cup single cream

Melt butter and fry the onions for 2 minutes. Add the cleaned lentils and 2 cups of water and boil until the lentils are tender (if more liquid is needed, use stock). Add stock, salt and paprika, bring to boil, then remove from heat. Strain through a sieve, forcing lentils through, or liquidize. Return to pan and keep hot.
Make a roux with the rest of the butter and the flour and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the cream very gradually away from the heat, stirring all the time. Add the well-beaten egg yolks and combine this mixture with the purée. Do not reheat but serve immediately. Garnish with bread croutons rolled in the minced parsley. Spoon the wine vinegar over at the table.

Variation: Substitute beef stock for veal stock and add 1 bay leaf to the seasoning. Strain or liquidize, reheat and serve. Garnish with chopped parsley and mint.

A good soup for the Christmas season

1 lb/450 g brown lentils, soaked
1 onion
1 leek
thyme
bay leaf
salt and pepper
1 pheasant
4 fl oz/l00 ml cream

Cook the soaked lentils in salted water with the onion, the white of the leek, thyme, bay leaf and seasoning. Roast the pheasant. When cooked cut the meat off the bones. Set aside the best fillets and dice them.
Pound the meat in a mortar, strain the lentils (reserving the stock) and add them to the meat, sieve or liquidize and return to the saucepan. Moisten with the lentil stock, continuing to add it until the soup is the desired consistency. When it is hot stir in the cream and the diced pheasant.

Variation: Any cold game could be used or the remains of a roast goose.

Serves 8

1 lb/450 g lentils
¼ lb/100 g sliced bacon or ¼ lb/100 g
cooked ham
2 onions, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
15 pitted prunes
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. vinegar
1 pinch thyme
salt to taste
1 lemon, sliced

Soak lentils overnight and simmer them in the same water for 1 hour. Add all the other ingredients except the lemon and simmer for 2 hours or longer until the soup is thick and the lentils tender. Serve with a slice of lemon in each soup bowl.

Serves 8

½ lb/250 g sliced salami or frankfurters
1 tbsp. shortening
2 onions, chopped
1 garlic clove (optional)
5 cups water
¾ cup dried lentils
½ cup celery and leaves, chopped
½ green pepper, chopped
¾ tsp. mixed pickling spice
1 small hot red pepper, if desired
salt and pepper

Cut salami into ¼''/½ cm strips and brown slowly in fat in heavy saucepan. Add onions and minced garlic; cook for 5 minutes. Add water, washed lentils, celery, green pepper and spices. Cover, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for ½ hour until lentils are very well done. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4

4 oz/100 g lentils
2 onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 rashers bacon
1 oz/25 g butter
2 tbsp. oil
1 lb/450 g tomatoes, sliced
2½ pints/1½ liter chicken stock
seasoning
2 tbsp. tomato purée
1 tsp. sugar

Soak lentils overnight. Fry onion, garlic and 3 rashers of chopped bacon in butter and oil for 5 minutes. Add sliced tomatoes, drained  lentils,  stock, seasoning, tomato purée and sugar. Simmer for 1 hour, sieve or liquidize. Reheat soup, grill the remaining rasher of bacon and chop. Serve topped with bacon and croutons.

Serves 6

4 oz/100 g lentils, soaked overnight
½ onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 anchovy fillet, chopped
½ green pepper, seeded cored and
chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
pinch dried rosemary
salt and pepper
2 oz/50 g small noodles

Bring lentils to a boil in 2 pints/ 1 liter of cold water. Simmer gently until the lentils are tender but not mushy. Strain and retain cooking liquor.
Fry the onion, garlic, anchovy and green pepper in olive oil in a frying pan until tender but not browned. Add the tomatoes and rosemary and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Add the vegetable mixture to the lentils and ½ pint/250 ml of the cooking liquor. Add salt and pepper to taste and bring to the boil. Add noodles and continue simmering until tender.

Chickpea or haricot beans can replace lentils in this recipe.

2 large onions
1 turnip
2 tbsp. butter
2 tsp. curry powder
½ lb/225 g lentils, soaked
2 pints/1.2 liter stock
salt and pepper
a little chutney juice
flour, if necessary

Fry the sliced onions and turnip in butter until soft. Sprinkle on curry powder and stir a few minutes longer. Add the lentils and stock. Simmer over low heat for 1½ hours or until the lentils are soft. Sieve or liquidize and return to the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste, and the chutney juice. If necessary thicken with a little flour. Good with toast and butter.

Serves 4-6

Continue