Indian summer is winding to a close in DC. The days are beautiful but there’s a nip in the night air, and a tomato soup with meatballs is the perfect thing at the end of the day. This recipe from Lebanon is the perfect solution – adapted from a recipe from Shahiya.com, a great recipe site for all foods Middle Eastern. It’s featured on their Cook Lebanese: 101 Recipes app (get it here).

Full disclosure: I was given a copy of said app to review. There is a free version, however, with a little over a dozen recipes available, in addition to the $3 version with the full 101 recipes. Either way it is nice to have a set of great, portable, always-with-you Lebanese classics…the app version of these being especially handy in a small kitchen or while you’re in the store trying to figure out what ingredients to buy for dinner. Shahiya itself is even better – a great one-stop shop for recipes from Iran to North Africa.

But I digress…

Shorbet Eama (Tomato soup with meatballs), from Shahiya.com’s Cook Lebanese: 101 Recipes app

You will need:

1/2 cup rice
1/2 cup vermicelli
2 T vegetable oil
1/2 small can tomato paste, dissolved in a small bowl of water

For the meatballs/kefta:
About a pound of ground beef, lamb, or goat
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of black pepper
1/2 T salt
1/4 cup oil for frying

To make:

First make the meatballs. This is much easier than you probably think. You mix together all the meatball ingredients, sans oil (use your hands. Do it.) and then you run it through a food processor. Then you make it into small meatballs.

Next, fry these in the oil till they’re brown and set them aside. Like so:

and:

Next: boil about a liter of water, the tomato paste, the rice and vermicelli and the meatballs. Simmer until the rice is cooked through, adjust spices, and serve hot.