Adasi | Persian lentil soup
Adasi or Persian lentil soup is a nutritious soup-like Iranian dish which can be easily cooked. It is also very enjoyable to eat this dish as breakfast at the weekend, or even as light dinner. The properties that Adasi holds, are very useful for the human body. So it’s a good idea to use lentil in your diet regularly.
Adasi Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup lentil
- 3 cups water
- 1 onion
- 1 potato
- oil, as much as required
- salt, pepper, cinnamon, turmeric, as much as required
Instructions
- about 4 hours before you want to cook Adasi, leave it in some water so that the lentils will absorb some water.
- Use a pot to cook the lentils in some water. Chop the potato and when the lentils are half-cooked, add the pieces of the potato to the pot.
- Chop the onions into the form shown in the picture and stir-fry them, using some oil and turmeric. In the final step of stir frying, add a little cinnamon to the onions.
- After the chopped potatoes are cooked, separate them from the potatoes and mash them. Add the mashed potato to the onions. Stir them and add the whole thing to the lentils which are cooking.
- Add the salt and pepper and let it cook for ten more minutes.You can use fried and even raw onions, mints and … as the topping.Your delicious Adasi is ready.
Tips for cooking Adasi
To separate the potatoes from the lentils more easily, chop them in bigger sizes. You can even use a potato which has not been chopped. But chopping the potato, will help it cook faster.
When serving Adasi, make sure to dress it with olive oil and lime juice.
Lentils: Nutrition and Benefits
As mentioned before, lentil is a type of bean holding a lot of properties. It holds a high amount of proteins and a low amount of fat so you can take advantage of it while eating dishes like Adasi or Dal adas. Lentil, can help people suffering from anemia, because of the high dose of folate (B9) it carries.
As you know one of the most famous dishes cooked with lentils is Adasi. Containing a lot of vitamin B and magnesium, this dish will boost your energy, during Ramadan, and can be eaten before the dawn of a fasting day and also as Iftar. Adasi can help the regulation of Blood Glucose Level, it can help reduce amounts of cholesterol and it acts as a deterrent against heart and digestive diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease.
properties of lentils
In the traditional medicine of Iran, lentils are considered “dry” and “moderate”. Its skin and the nut itself, have opposite effects. The skin is a type of laxative (because of the non-absorbable fiber it contains) and the nut acts against diarrhea.
There are two types of fiber in lentils, absorbable and non-absorbable. The non-absorbable can help lower cholesterol levels by removing Bile from the human body and it can help prevent digestive diseases such as IBS.
The absorbable fiber can help control blood glucose level (the high amount of fiber, won’t let the blood glucose level rise after having a meal). The existing fiber, folate and magnesium can help your heart.
Among plants, it’s one of the best sources providing proteins. The amount of proteins in 15 grams lentil is more than the amount of protein in 15 grams beef. It holds different types of amino acids, vitamins (especially vitamin B), iron (useful for woman who have recently become mothers), calcium and phosphor.
If you are wounded, cooked lentils can be used as a home remedy! Also a combination of vinegar and cooked lentils can be used for healing cracked heels.
A Perfect Breakfast Meal!
In Iran, people usually eat adasi as breakfast! This dish is really healthy and it also is tasty and delicious. By all these health benefits and heavenly taste why not a fantastic choice for breakfast? You can see many Persian families gathering altogether on a Friday morning eating breakfast and having fun together. Better to know that mostly Persians eat this lentil soup with a kind of bread. One of these kinds that is highly adored is Barbari bread. If you have never tried lentil soup, do it, but if you have never tried lentil soup with Barbari bread, do is as soon as possible.
Yazd, a perfect city for trying Adasi
Do you want to try Adasi in a real cute and traditional restaurant? You’d better visit the beautiful city in Yazd and taste its Adasi. This small restaurant is located in the old Bazar or the city and many local Bazari people and salespeople go to this place and try the amazing breakfast, Adasi. You wouldn’t regret it for sure!
I guess adding tomato paste can be so lovely…
Hello.
This is okay to add tomato paste and yes it will enhance the flavor.
I love lentil soup because it is very nourishing.
the best part of the dish was the hot temperament of the food
thanks for the great dish you introduced to us
oh this was so delicious and the lentils are very cute and tasty
thanks for the very delicious dish you made
I really like this persian soup because it was very tasty
thanks for the clear instruction
this dish is a very good dinner recipe for children
thanks for the very great food you introduced