Yemenite Meat Soup with homemade fenugreek

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade fenugreek ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 1
   Soak the fenugreek seeds in water 12 hours.

   Bowl
2. 2
   Drain the fenugreek seeds.

   Colander
3. 3
   Grind the fenugreek seeds in a blender into a thick paste.

   Blender
4. 4
   Whip the hilbeh with a little water until it doubles in volume.

   Whisk
5. 5
   Add and mix well. Season with salt and black pepper.

For the Soup

1. 6
   Heat the oil in a large pot and brown the meat in it on all sides.

   StoveLarge pot

   💡What you brown (meat, patties, schnitzel) goes into hot oil: in lukewarm oil it soaks it up and comes out greasy. For onion and garlic that you soften, oil heated over medium or low heat is enough; do not wait for it to smoke.
2. 7
   Add the onion and garlic and fry 8 minutes.

   Stove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 8
   Add the cumin, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, salt and black pepper and the water to the pot.
4. 9
   Bring to a boil and skim off the foam. Turn down to low and simmer 2–3 hours, until the meat is tender.

   Stove

   💡Skim off the foam that rises at the boil, and after that only a gentle simmer: a hard boil clouds the soup and toughens the meat.

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
5. 10
   Remove the meat from the soup, take it off the bones and return the meat to the soup.
6. 11
   Serve hot in deep bowls with the cilantro and fenugreek.