Claudia Roden’s Ab Ghooshte Fasl (Iranian Bean and Vegetable Soup)

Because this hearty Iranian soup stars black-eyed peas — which are considered good luck for New Year’s in the American South — we think it’s just the thing for cold January days in the U.S., as we wrote in this 2020 story about Persian soups. But when we tried it for the first time, we loved it so much that we know it’ll be a cold-weather go-to any old time. The recipe is adapted from Claudia Roden’s classic 1968 book, The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, which was updated in 2000. Roden’s recipe calls for lamb or stewing beef; either way, you can use one large piece or smaller cuts. We went with lamb — the shank works great.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Ingredients

1/3 cup dried navy or cannellini beans, soaked overnight

1/3 cup yellow split peas, washed

1/3 cup black-eyed peas, washed

1/3 cup green, black or brown lentis, washed

1 pound lamb (shoulder or shank)

1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch (or a little thinner) slices

2 teaspoons salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

3/4 cup chopped Italian parsley

1 can (15 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes

1 large eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

2 green bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch dice

4 small Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and halved

Instructions

1. Put the drained beans, the black-eyed peas and the lentils in a large soup pot with the lamb and onion and 2 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, skim off the scum, reduce heat to low and simmer for an hour or more, until the meat and beans are very tender. Once the beans have begun to soften, add the salt, pepper, cinnamon and turmeric.

2. Remove the lamb, cut it off the bone(s) into small pieces and return the meat to the pot. Add the parsley, tomatoes (with their liquid, eggplant, bell peppers and potatoes and cook half an hour longer, adding water as necessary for a good soupy texture (we added two cups), until the vegetables are done.