persian soup-e jo

I spent one month in Oklahoma with Eaman’s family before moving to San Diego and I think 75% of the time by choice I was eating soup-e jo, a traditional and healthy Persian soup made of barley (“jo”), lentils, turmeric and herbs. (Eaman’s mom would make a huge pot-ful and I’d be happy to clean off all the leftovers.) As much as a treat as it was to have her cooking different menus for us, it was the soup that always got me rabidly excited.

She was kind enough to share her family recipe with me, and today I share it with you! I took some creative license by adding cilantro and eyeballed the proportions, but that’s the wonderful thing about soup: Just throw it all in there.

Soup-e-Jo

Ingredients:
– Water
– 1 cup pearl barley
– Lentils
– 5 teaspoons of tomato sauce
– 4 teaspoons of turmeric
– Garlic cloves, minced (I used 6 cloves)
– Handful of cilantro, chopped finely
– Grated zucchini or turnips (optional)
– Fried onion slices (optional)
– Dried mint (optional)
– Lime
– Salt as needed

Directions:
Fill a large pot so it’s 3/4 full with water. Once it reaches a boil, add barley. When barley is about half-cooked, add lentils (amount is up to you), tomato sauce and turmeric. Add water as necessary. Once the soup is about ready to be served — taste it to make sure the lentils and barley have cooked — add the minced garlic, cilantro and other optional ingredients. (Grated zucchini or turnips are particularly good to add when you’re sick, she says!) Garnish each bowl of soup with a squeezed lime slice. The lime is what elevates this soup from “Oh my” to “Oh my god can I have the recipe for this soup?”