Home Culture Stay Warm This Winter With These Soups From Israeli Restaurateurs


Stay Warm This Winter With These Soups From Israeli Restaurateurs

by Touchpoint Israel
Stay Warm This Winter With These Soups From Israeli Restaurateurs

Soup may be the ultimate comfort food. During the cold winter, nothing warms and satisfies the belly like a steaming, fragrant bowl of hearty soup.

Israelis are getting into soup season with gusto now that the temperatures are dipping. It’s prime time for restaurateurs who specialize in soups, such as Noam Frankfort, Nurah Husaisi, Nir Elkayam, and Ofer Elmaliach.

Hamarakia (The Soupery)

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A certified Vegan Friendly eatery at 4 Koresh Street near the hub of downtown Jerusalem, Hamarakia rotates more than 70 tried-and-true soups on its menu, accompanied by homey Israeli staples such as hummus and shakshuka. Co-owner Noam Frankforter, who bought the eatery from its founders with a friend 14 years ago, says each evening there are seven “warm and cozy” soups offered. “In summer we add cold soups using yogurt or fresh tomatoes,” Frankforter says. The biggest sellers at Hamarakia in winter are soups with lentils, beans, or sweet potatoes.

Coconut-Orange Lentil Soup Recipe (Serves 5)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 medium onions (chopped)
  • 2 medium carrots (diced)
  • 1 medium potato (diced)
  • half a bunch fresh coriander (chopped)
  • 2 cups coconut milk
  • 1½ cups orange lentils, soaked 20 minutes
  • curry powder, flaked cilantro, salt, pepper
  • about 2 cups water or vegetable stock

In a soup pot, fry the chopped onion in the olive oil. When the onions turn golden, add the diced carrots and potatoes and stir. Add curry, cilantro, salt, and pepper to taste. Continue stirring. Add the soaked lentils and coconut milk. Add half the chopped coriander, plus enough water or vegetable stock, to cover. Cook for half an hour. Puree half the soup with an immersion blender and add back into pot. Garnish with the rest of the chopped coriander.

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Mitbach Shel Nurah (Nora’s Kitchen)

Mitbach Shel Nurah (Nora’s Kitchen), a kosher Druze eatery in Daliat el-Carmel about an hour north of Tel Aviv, is a good place to sample traditional northern Syrian Druze dishes such as Barbajeena soup. Chef Nurah Husaisi stated that this first course is popular in the winter because of its warming ingredients including cardamom. Husaisi cooked up a huge pot of barbajeena for A-sham, the Arab Food Festival in Haifa earlier this month.

PHOTO: Arab Food Festival PR

PHOTO: Arab Food Festival PR

Barbajeena (Serves 10)
  • 2 cups dry chickpeas (4 cups canned)
  • 1 cup of brown or green lentils
  • 1 cup bulgur
  • 2 onions
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • ½ cup of olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon cardamom
  • teaspoon cumin
  • salt and pepper to taste

If using dry chickpeas, soak them overnight. Drain the soaking water and place the chickpeas in a pot and cover with tap water. Cook until tender on high heat. When the chickpeas are soft, add the lentils and the bulgur, plus water if needed, and bring to boil. Place the onion, bell pepper, olive oil, and spices in a food processor and process them finely (careful not to over process). Add the mix to the soup and keep cooking for about an hour until the soup thickens and the lentils are cooked, stirring occasionally.

Nurah Husaisi in her restaurant in Daliat el-Carmel. Photo: Courtesy.

Nurah Husaisi in her restaurant in Daliat el-Carmel. Photo: Courtesy.

Café Sofia

Café Sofia in Jerusalem’s Inbal Hotel has kicked off its annual soup festival through April 7, offering five different soups each day on an all-you-can-eat basis (wow!). Chef Nir Elkayam uses family recipes to make his minestrone, pea, cream of corn, eggplant, and cream of Jerusalem artichoke and leek soups ( pictured below). The Cafe’s hours are Sunday through Thursday noon to 10pm, with Friday being 11-3.

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup (Serves 6)
  • 1 liter vegetable stock
  • 2 leeks coarsely chopped
  • 800 grams peeled potatoes cut into cubes
  • 500 grams Jerusalem artichoke, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 150 ml. cream or nondairy substitute
  • olive oil and thyme, optional garnish

Boil the stock and add the potato cubes, Jerusalem artichoke, garlic, and leek. Cook until all are soft. Blend the ingredients, bring to a boil again, and add the cream. Season to taste and garnish with olive oil and thyme leaves.

Café Sofia’s cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup. Photo courtesy of The Inbal Hotel.

Café Sofia’s cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup. Photo courtesy of The Inbal Hotel.

Zuppa

Zuppa (Italian for soup),  has been owned for the past 10 years by Ofer Elmaliach and Koby Bendelac. It has two Tel Aviv locations: Ibn Gabirol 138 and Ahad Ha’am 19.

“Our idea was to take high-quality ingredients and use basic professional cooking methods to turn them into simple, healthy, inexpensive soups, salads, and sandwiches,” Elmaliach stated. “Every day we have five or six different homemade soups, all natural, with no powdered bullion or MSG.”

PHOTO: courtesy of Zuppa Tel Aviv.

PHOTO: courtesy of Zuppa Tel Aviv.

A typical daily menu at Zuppa lists varieties such as goulash, Jerusalem artichoke, minted pea, vichyssoise, black bean with rosemary, chicken-noodle, and mushroom-zucchini. Sign up online for Zuppa’s soup club amd enter your three favorite soups. You’ll get a text when the eatery plans to serve one of them.

“Soup is very comforting and brings up home and childhood,” says Elmaliach. “There’s something about it that makes you feel better, especially chicken-noodle or vegetable soup.”

Originally posted at Israel21C.

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