Yemenite Soup!!!

My Friday Fun project this week was ... YEMENITE SOUP. My lovely roommate and I co-hosted a friday night dinner, which was Yemenite themed. She made kubaneh - a special yemenite bread that cooks on a low heat for 12 hours. It is made in a special pot, with a lid. We put it in the oven at 7AM on Friday, and it cooked all day at 225. It was crusty and great.

The soup was delicious. I used 3 pounds of flanken, and it was so soft - it all fell off the bones. Basically, everyone got a bowl with a chunk of meat and a big potato for dinner. We also had awesome Iranian rice to sop up the broth, and beautiful multicolored cabbage salad (purple cabbage, green cilantro, and orange peppers with sesame oil, lemon, salt, and pepper).

Other news in my food life: my other roommate bought fresh mozzarella from fairway, so obviously, we had no choice but to make Saturday night pizza:

Yemenite Soup: (serves 7)
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds flanken, cut into chunks
- 16 cups vegetable broth (I used Imagine - not low sodium)
- 2 cups water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons hawaiij
- 3/4 teaspoons curry powder
- 3/4 teaspoons ground coriander
- 3/4 teaspoons cumin
- a sprinkle of chili powder
- a few cranks of pepper from a pepper mill
- salt to taste
- 3 very big beefsteak tomatoes
- 6 onions, peeled
- 3/4 cups cilantro (not the stalks), finely chopped
- 15 - 20 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 6 idaho potatoes, peeled and cut in half

Directions:
1. Place flanken in a VERY large pot. Add stock and water. Bring to a boil, and allow to boil for 20 minutes. Skim foam from the top.
2. Add spices (not the salt).
3. Cut an X in the bottom of the tomatoes (not the side with the stem), and add to the pot.
4. Add the onion, cilantro, garlic, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 2 hours. I did this with the pot uncovered, because I ran out of room in the pot.
6. Add the potatoes and simmer for another hour.