Lamb soup with noodles – Sulu khangal

An ancient Turkic word, khangal occurs in the medieval Turkic chronicle the Oguzname. The recipe below is for a lamb soup with pasta squares.

Preparation time: 40 min
Cooking time: 15 min
Serves: 5-6

Ingredients

• 500 g/1 lb 4oz stewing lamb
• 500 g/1 lb 4 oz wheat flour
• 1 egg (optional)
• 175 g/7 oz chickpeas
• 75 g/3 oz melted butter
• 2 medium-sized onions
• apple or grape vinegar
• crushed garlic
• bunches of coriander and dill or dried mint
• salt & pepper

Preparation

• If using dried chickpeas, soak overnight in cold water. Rinse.
• Cover the meat with plenty of water in a large pan, slightly more than required for the number of servings. If the meat is fatty, add the 2 onions to the broth while the meat is cooking and remove when the broth is ready to serve. (You won't need to add fried onions later if you add raw onion at this stage.) Bring the pan slowly to the boil. Skim off the foam that forms on the surface. Simmer for 90 minutes or so until the meat is cooked.
• While the meat is cooking, make the dough. Sieve the flour into a large bowl or onto a flat surface. Make a hole in the centre and gradually add the water (and egg, if using) mixing in from the sides to the middle. Knead into a smooth dough. Roll out to a thickness of 1 millimetre.5. Cut the dough into rectangles, 2 cm x 3 cm pieces. If you have too many pasta squares, dry and store for later use.
• Once the meat is cooked, strain the broth and separate the meat from the bones if using cuts on the bone. Return the meat to the strained broth.
• Add the chickpeas, pieces of pasta and salt & pepper.
• Simmer for another 5 minutes until the rectangles are cooked.
• Fry the chopped onion in butter.
• Add the fried onions and chopped herbs to the broth before serving.
• Serve with wine or apple vinegar and crushed garlic. If not using fresh herbs, crumble dried mint into the soup at the serving stage.