Soup for Syria: chefs are stirred into action over refugee crisis

posted on: Oct 25, 2015

Last winter, the Lebanese food writer and photographer Barbara Abdeni Massaad spent her weekends filling her car with ingredients and driving across the Bekaa Valley to a Syrian refugee camp – one of many that had sprung up in Lebanon. There, she would cook soup for families who were falling ill from hunger and cold, crowded into plastic tents, often with no means of feeding themselves. Massaad came to regard many of these people as extended family, and witnessing their situation up close galvanised her into further action. She gathered material from visits to the camp, sourced recipes from chefs and food writers and came up with the idea for Soup for Syria – a cookbook and humanitarian campaign to raise awareness and funds.

Everyone involved in the project has given time and resource – food writers have donated recipes, and Pavilion Books and the Guardian Bookshop have covered production and distribution costs so that the book’s full cover price will be donated to Syrian refugees. Claudia Roden contributed a recipe and told Massaad: “My hope is that this book helps keep the plight of Syrian refugees in people’s minds and that it will raise funds to alleviate their suffering until their future is settled.”

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Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi acknowledged that “our recipe is a drop in the ocean”, but “if awareness of the plight of the Syrian refugees is raised with each batch made and shared, then that is a force for good”. Anthony Bourdain talked of the universality and comforting nature of the recipe he gave: “Soup is elemental and it always makes sense, even when the world around us fails to.” The book also features contributions by the Syrian architect Aziz Hallaj, who contributed a recipe from Aleppo; Greg Malouf, a Michelin-starred Australian chef of Lebanese heritage; and UK cookery writer Sally Butcher.

Aziz Hallaj’s red lentil soup
(Serves 4-6)
400g split red lentils
2 tsp Lebanese seven spice (or garam masala)
2 tsp ground cumin
Pinch of salt
250ml verjuice (or lemon juice)
250ml extra-virgin olive oil
10 small garlic cloves, crushed
Toasted croutons (optional)
1 tsp Aleppo pepper (or paprika)

Cover the lentils with 1.5l of water in a large pot and boil for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are very tender, skimming off any foam. Add the spice mix, cumin, salt and verjuice, and cook for 10 minutes, until the lentils have broken down. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil and saute the garlic until golden brown. Pour into the soup, mix well and cook for two minutes. Garnish with croutons, if using, and pepper.

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A Syrian woman prepares vegetables in a refugee camp. Photograph: Barbara Abdeni Massaad/Soup for Syria
Sally Butcher’s Iranian pomegranate soup (ash-e anar)
(Serves 4)
3 onions, two chopped, one grated
A little oil or ghee
1 tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground cinnamon
200g split peas
2.5l good stock (or water)
500g minced lamb
Salt and black pepper
½ bunch parsley and coriander, chopped
Handful fresh mint, chopped
1 bunch spring onions, chopped
175g kritharaki (orzo) or short-grain rice
2 tbsp sugar
250ml pomegranate syrup
Crispy fried onions and mint, or pomegranate seeds, to garnish (optional)

Fry the chopped onions in a little oil. Add the turmeric, cinnamon, split peas and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the grated onion to the lamb with a little salt and pepper, knead, and shape into small balls. Add the herbs, spring onions and kritharaki to the soup. Bring to the boil, then add the sugar and pomegranate syrup. Add the meatballs and let the soup bubble gently for 30 minutes. Garnish with onion and mint, or pomegranate seeds.

Greg Malouf’s fennel soup
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Fennel soup with lemon and cinnamon. Photograph: Barbara Abdeni Massaad/Soup for Syria
(Serves 6-8)
60ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 small garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 leeks, trimmed and roughly chopped
3 large fennel bulbs, sliced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1.5l chicken stock
1 cinnamon stick
Peel of ½ lemon
½ tsp ground allspice
2 bay leaves
Salt and black pepper, to taste
2 egg yolks
120ml double cream
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp ground cinnamon and 3 tbsp fresh parsley, to garnish

Heat the oil and saute the onions, garlic, leeks and fennel for a few minutes. Add the potatoes, stock, cinnamon stick, lemon peel, allspice and bay leaves. Bring to the boil, then gently simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the cinnamon, lemon and bay, and season. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and cream, then stir in a large spoonful of soup. Whisk well, then tip into the soup. Slowly return the soup to just below boiling, stirring. Remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Drizzle each bowl with oil and sprinkle with cinnamon and parsley.

Source: www.theguardian.com