Meliz's Kitchen
Dad’s tomato & rice soup
Baba’s domatesli pirinç çorbası
Not Too Tricky
serves 4
About the recipe
My dad has two signature soups that he would always cook for us. One is a cauliflower soup, which essentially consists of boiled cauliflower florets, rice and lots of lemon juice, but the one I’ve included here is my favourite, Baba's Domatesli Pirinç Çorbası (Dad's Tomato & Rice Soup). This is not a recipe that has been passed down from my dad’s family, but one that my dad concocted using a couple of fresh ingredients from the fridge, and the rest from the store cupboard. It’s so simple, both in terms of ingredients and method, and my dad occasionally uses a can of chopped tomatoes in place of the fresh ones I use in my recipe. Rice is a key ingredient in most Cypriot soups and seasoning
soups with lemon juice is fundamental to Cypriot cuisine, so do ensure you have some fresh lemon to hand when making this one.
Recipe From
Ingredients
200g (7 oz) short-grain white rice
6 large tomatoes
50ml (2 fl oz) olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 vegetable stock cube
500ml (18 fl oz) boiling water
1.5 litres (2½ pints) cold water
25g (1 oz) fresh parsley, finely chopped
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon caster sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus extra to taste
Method
My dad has two signature soups that he would always cook for us. One is a cauliflower soup, which essentially consists of boiled cauliflower florets, rice and lots of lemon juice, but the one I’ve included here is my favourite, Baba's Domatesli Pirinç Çorbası (Dad's Tomato & Rice Soup). This is not a recipe that has been passed down from my dad’s family, but one that my dad concocted using a couple of fresh ingredients from the fridge, and the rest from the store cupboard. It’s so simple, both in terms of ingredients and method, and my dad occasionally uses a can of chopped tomatoes in place of the fresh ones I use in my recipe. Rice is a key ingredient in most Cypriot soups and seasoning soups with lemon juice is fundamental to Cypriot cuisine, so do ensure you have some fresh lemon to hand when making this one.
- Wash the rice in a sieve with cold water until the water runs clear. Leave to drain.
- Place the tomatoes in a deep heatproof bowl. Pour over boiling water to cover and leave for a minute or two. Remove the tomatoes from the bowl, peel off the skins, discard, and then finely chop the flesh. Leave to one side.
- Pour the olive oil into a large pan and place over a medium heat. Add the onion and soften for 10–12 minutes until lightly caramelised.
- While the onion is cooking, dissolve the stock cube in the boiling water, then top up with the cold water.
- Stir the parsley, paprika and tomatoes into the caramelised onions and let everything sizzle for a minute or two before adding the rice, giving the grains a good stir so that they get fully coated in the tomatoes and onion. Sprinkle in the sugar, then gently pour in the stock and season with the salt and pepper. Allow the soup to simmer over a medium heat for around 10 minutes until the rice is cooked. Add the lemon juice a couple of minutes before you remove the pan from the heat and serve with crusty bread, adding a little more lemon juice to taste.
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