Lebanese · soup

Kishk Soup (Shorbet Kishk)

Kishk Soup (Shorbet Kishk) reads allium 5.5, richness 5.4 and salinity 4.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Lebanese soup, about 50 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Allium 5.5 · Richness 5.4 · Salinity 4.5 · Nutty 2.9 · Herbaceous 2.7 · Warm Spice 2.2 · Funk & Ferment 2.1 · Sourness 2.1 · Umami 1.6 · Bitterness 1.3 · Earthy 1.1 · Floral 1.0 · Sweetness 0.9 · Heat 0.6

What's in it (12)

Time & effort: about 50 min (29 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 30.4 kcal, 0.6 g protein, 2 g fat, 2.6 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

  1. Kishk is bulgur fermented with yoghurt for nine days, then dried in the sun and milled to a pale powder. It is the Lebanese mountain's way of keeping a summer's milk through the winter, and it tastes intensely sour, cheesy and savoury. Buy it from a Lebanese grocer; nothing else stands in for it.
  2. Whisk the kishk powder into the cold water and leave it to soak for 20 minutes. Cold water first, always — kishk added to hot liquid seizes into lumps that never smooth out.
  3. Melt the ghee in a heavy pan over medium-high heat and fry the minced lamb for 6 minutes until browned and its fat has run. If you can get awarma — lamb confited in its own tail fat — use it, and use half the ghee.
  4. Add the onion and cook 8 minutes until soft and golden, then the crushed garlic and the allspice and cook 1 minute more.
  5. Pour in the soaked kishk with all its water, stirring constantly. Bring slowly to a simmer over medium-low heat, still stirring, and cook 15 minutes until it thickens to a loose porridge and the sourness has rounded out. Add the salt and pepper near the end.
  6. If it goes too thick, loosen with hot water; kishk keeps swelling as it cooks.
  7. Ladle into bowls, top with the toasted bread and the parsley, and serve very hot. It is a winter breakfast in the mountain villages.
  8. Substitutions: lamb can stand in for the awarma.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.