Meat Joint Soup
SHOURABAT MOZAAT
2 1/2 cups soup meat, cubed
4 cup rice or fine noodles
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup parsley, chopped fine
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Several meat bones
Water
The Lebanese housewife used to spend most of the day tending the soup kettle to make this nourishing soup for her family. Today the same soup can be cooked in an hour in the pressure cooker. Its distinctive flavor comes from the cinnamon stick added to the broth. With toasted Arab bread this makes a hearty meal.
Place meat and bones in pressure cooker with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and skim. Pour off all but 2 1/2 cups of the broth and set aside. Add cinnamon stick to broth and bones in the pressure cooker and cook under pressure for 30 minutes. Reduce pressure. Remove meat and bones. Add rice or noodles and the reserved broth to the pot and cook under pressure eight minutes. Open cooker. Season to taste. Return meat to soup and heat to boiling. Serve in soup bowls garnished with chopped parsley. For variety, add several small whole carrots, a tomato cut in half, several small summer squash and a chopped stick of celery to the broth before adding the rice or noodles.
To prepare this soup in an open kettle, bring meat and bones to boil and skim. Add salt and cinnamon stick. Boil until meat is tender and remove bones. Add rice or noodles and cook until tender. Sprinkle with parsley. Add vegetables as above if desired.

Lentil Soup
SHOURABAT 'ADAS
3 cups lentils
1/2 cup rice (optional)
1/2 cup samneh, or other shortening
1 cup chopped onions
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Water
Another good old fashioned soup is this one developed, of necessity, by Lebanese mountain villages when their winter diet consisted mainly of those foods which they dried in the summer and stored in earthenware jars or homespun sacks for winter eating.
Soak lentils in cold water overnight. Wash and pick over. Place in pressure cooker with water to cover them about an inch. Cook under pressure for 15 minutes. Pass the soup through a sieve or food mill. Add water to desired consistency. Fry onions in hot fat until bro~vn and add to soup. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt. Serve thick and hot with squares of crisp fried bread.
To prepare in open kettle: Wash lentils. Pick them over. Boil until soft. Pass through sieve or food mill. Add fried onions and salt. Add more water if necessary and simmer for 10 minutes. To either method, add cooked rice if desired (one half cup before cooking). To enhance flavor, braise a beef or lamb bone in a small amount of fat and add to soup at beginning of cooking. Dried pea soup may be prepared in the same way but omit rice.
Meatball Soup
SHOURABAT EL QEEMA
2 1/2 cups ground lean meat
4 lbs. soup meat, cubed
Several soup bones
1/2 Cup samneh, or other shortening
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 CUp tomato juice, or
1 Tbsp. tomato paste and half cup water
5 cups cold water
Grind meat several times. Mix well with salt and pepper. Shape into balls the size of marbles and brown in hot fat. Bring soup bones and meat to boil with water in pressure cooker. Skim. Cook under pressure for 20 minutes. Add meat balls, rice and tomato juice. Cook under pressure for 10 minutes. Remove bones. Add parsley and cinnamon just before serving. Makes approximately 10 servings.
This is a very old recipe and here is how it was originally prepared. Pound meat well in a stone mortar with a strong wooden mallet - called the jorn and modaqqa - with salt and pepper until meat becomes smooth and pasty. Shape into small balls and brown in hot fat. Brown soup bones in fat. Add tomato juice and seasonings. Simmer until meat balls are done. Add one half cup rice and cook until tender.Add parsley and simmer another three minutes. Add salt to taste.