Generous Friends!

Meet our dear Iranian friend Farideh, whose home and kitchen is GENEROUS in so many ways. 

Farideh emigrated to Canada from Turkey in 2006. She has loved to cook since she was 11 years old. Her Mother taught her to cook and she was allowed to cook for her family at quite a young age. Farideh's sisters are all very good cooks, so it runs in the family! 

The cookware she prefers is made of copper. The pots are lovely to look at and Farideh adds that the copper gives a nice taste to the food she is making. Farideh loves to cook and when cooking for large groups, she usually cooks traditional Iranian food: 2 kinds of meat, rice, soup, salad and something sweet. Appreciating the homemade, she makes most dishes from scratch. We spent an afternoon with Farideh and she cooked for us! She made us 2 types of lentil soup and a meat dish. All was yummy and we so enjoyed visiting with Farideh in her beautiful home. We would love to share one of her recipes with you. It is hearty, healthy and oh so tasty. We hope you enjoy it!

Turkish Red Lentil Soup (Chorbaci)

Bring to a boil:

3 cups water

1 medium onion - diced and sauteed

1 cup dried red lentils

1 large potato peeled and diced

Combine all ingredients in saucepan and cover 

Cook 30-40 minutes until lentils and potatoes are soft

Add 2 cups boiling water

Sauce: 

4 TBSP tomato paste

4 TBSP canola oil

1/2 tsp red chilli flakes

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dried mint

In sauce pan, cook on medium/high for 2-3 minutes, sitrring constantly

Stir in 1/2 tsp dried mint

Add sauce to soup (lentil/potato/onion mixture)

Blend with an electric mixer

Serve with lime wedges and fresh mint

Someday Farideh would love to open a little Iranian Cafe.  She loves to cook for others and see them eat and enjoy her home cooked international food.  We think this is a great idea!   We would love to be her first customers!!

Hope you enjoyed meeting Farideh!  Keep looking for ways to be GENEROUS!

Laura and Anne