Ramadan Soup

This is one of those things that Chris had growing up and suddenly decided he wanted to eat again, so after asking my MIL for her recipe and looking up recipes online I started playing around and came up with this, my version of the dish. Like my potato soup this is somethign that works wonderfully for a cold winter day and with the adding of various meats can be quite versatile.. mind you, originally the recipe is vegetarian.

The Goods:

- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup chopped white onion
- 1 cup chopped celery or leek
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed (or 1 teaspoon minced garlic from a jar, but fresh always tastes better)
- 16 oz crushed canned tomato
- 2 coups chicken stock
- 1/4 cup garbanzo beans
- 1/8 cup lentils
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon tumeric
- 1/4 cup vermicelli, broken in about 2 inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro leaves (stems removed)
- 1 tablespoon fresh italian parsley (stems removed)

Add cooked chicken or any other other cooked meat if you need meat in it, boneless skinless chicken breast is best in my opinion

The Works:

in a medium stockpot heat olive oil until sizzling. Add the onion, garlic and celery/leek and cook until translucent. Add tomatoes, chicken stock, garbanzo beans, lentils, black pepper, cinnamon, cumin and tumeric to the stockpot. Cook on lo heat for about 40 min or until the beans and lentils become tender. Add the vermicelli into the pot. Mix flour with lemon juice and form into a paste. Add the flour paste gradually to the soup to thicken. Simmer for an additional 3 minutes, add cilantro and parsley and serve.