Shorbat freekeh
A soup built on an ingredient with no substitute: freekeh is green, unripe wheat roasted over fire and threshed afterwards. That process gives it a distinctly smoky flavour no other grain has. The soup itself is simple — broth, spiced onions, grain — but the freekeh must be rinsed several times, because soot and chaff from the roasting wash out of it.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Broth 45 min
- Cooking the grain 35 min
- Seasoning 10 min
- Serving 5 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneMake the chicken broth
Cover the legs with cold water, add the onion, bay, cinnamon, cardamom and salt, bring to a boil, skim the scum and simmer 45 minutes over low heat. Cardamom and cinnamon in the broth are Levantine standard, not decoration.
Ingredients: 800 g chicken legs · 2000 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 pcs cinnamon · 4 pcs cardamom · 2 tsp salt
Rinse the freekeh several times
Pick over the freekeh and rinse it in several changes of water until it runs clear. The grain is roasted over fire and sheds soot — unrinsed it gives the soup a bitter note and an unpleasant grey colour.
Ingredients: 250 g freekeh · 2 pcs onions · 40 g ghee (clarified butter) · 1½ tsp cumin · 1 tsp allspice · ½ tsp black pepper
Rinse until the water runs clear — that is soot from the roasting.Lift out the meat and shred it
Remove the legs, take the meat off the bones and tear it by hand. If you have time, return the bones to the broth for another 10 minutes — they add gelatine and give the soup a fuller body. Strain the broth.
Ingredients: 800 g chicken legs · 2000 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 pcs cinnamon · 4 pcs cardamom · 2 tsp salt
Fry the onions with the spices
Fry the finely chopped onion in the ghee for 10 minutes, to a deep golden brown, add the cumin, allspice and pepper and cook a further minute. Spices toasted in fat release their full aroma; tipped straight into the broth they taste raw and dusty.
Ingredients: 250 g freekeh · 2 pcs onions · 40 g ghee (clarified butter) · 1½ tsp cumin · 1 tsp allspice · ½ tsp black pepper
Golden brown onion, spices toasted in the fat.Cook the freekeh in the broth
Add the rinsed freekeh to the pot with the onions, pour in the broth and cook 30 minutes, until the grains swell and split and the soup thickens noticeably. Freekeh drinks a lot of liquid — keep boiling water to hand.
Ingredients: 250 g freekeh · 2 pcs onions · 40 g ghee (clarified butter) · 1½ tsp cumin · 1 tsp allspice · ½ tsp black pepper
Grains swollen and split — the soup thickens on its own.Return the meat and adjust the body
Add the shredded meat and cook 5 minutes. The soup should be thick but still pourable — if it has stiffened, add boiling water. It thickens further as it cools, so err on the looser side.
Ingredients: 250 g freekeh · 2 pcs onions · 40 g ghee (clarified butter) · 1½ tsp cumin · 1 tsp allspice · ½ tsp black pepper
Serve with lemon and olive oil
Ladle into bowls, squeeze lemon into each, drizzle with raw olive oil and scatter with coriander. Add a spoonful of yogurt if you like. The acid is essential: freekeh is smoky and earthy, and without lemon the soup tastes heavy and monotonous.
Ingredients: 2 pcs lemons · ½ bunch coriander · 3 tbsp olive oil · 200 g natural yogurt
Before you start
Where to find freekeh
Middle Eastern grocers and larger health food shops stock it, whole and cracked. Cracked is better for soup — it cooks much faster and thickens the soup better. Whole grain needs about 45–50 minutes.
What to substitute
Nothing reproduces freekeh's smokiness, but pearl barley with half a teaspoon of smoked paprika comes closest. That is an approximation, not a substitute — the smoke in the original comes from roasting the grain over fire, not from a spice.
It thickens in the fridge
The soup keeps up to three days in the fridge and thickens daily — freekeh absorbs liquid cold as well. Loosen with boiling water when reheating and serve with freshly squeezed lemon.
