1 pound lamb shank or stewing lamb
2 medium size onions, sliced
2 (15/1-ounce) cans chickpeas
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Arabic spice (mixture of clove, cinnamon, allspice and black pepper)
6 cups water
Wash the lamb and saute it in the pot for 5 minutes. Add onions, water, salt and spices. Bring the pot to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour or until lamb is tender and falls off the bone.
Drain the chickpeas and add to the soup. simmer for 20 minutes; add more salt if needed.
If you are using dry chickpeas, soak them overnight in water. Drain the water and add to the meat and onions to cook together for an hour.
You can substitute the meat with chicken and you could add dried limes (noomi basra) to the soup to give it a sour flavor.Serve it in soup bowls with toasted bread. You could place bread in a boul and ladel the soup ove the bread. Then we call it Thireed.
Makes 4 servings.