Abgoosht – Rich Persian Lamb Soup with homemade cooked chickpeas

👨‍🍳 Method

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

1. 1
   Soak the chickpeas overnight in plenty of cold water.

   Bowl

   💡Soak in plenty of water, well above what's being soaked: legumes and grains swell and drink water, and whatever sticks out stays hard. Drain well before continuing.
2. 2
   Drain, cover with plenty of unsalted water and cook 1.5–2 hours, skimming off the foam and skins from time to time, until the chickpeas are very soft and crush easily between your fingers.

   ColanderStovePot

   💡Fully cooked chickpeas crush between your fingers with no resistance at all. Chickpeas that stay a little firm make a grainy spread, and no amount of tahini will fix it.
3. 3
   Drain, reserving a cup of the cooking liquid.

   Colander

For the Soup

1. 4
   Put the meat in a large pot with the water and add the onion, cumin, paprika, turmeric, salt and black pepper.

   Large pot
2. 5
   Bring to a boil and skim off the foam. Turn down to low and simmer about an hour and a half, 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.
3. 6
   Add the hummus, potatoes and tomatoes and cook another 30 minutes, until the potatoes is tender.

   Stove
4. 7
   Remove the meat from the soup, take it off the bones and return the meat to the soup.
5. 8
   Season the soup with the lemon juice.
6. 9
   Eat with Taboon Bread for dipping.