The memory of lemons

I had a whole chicken in the freezer so decided to make shorbat tarbiya, chicken-lemon soup. It's one of a family of Syrian soup recipes with a lemony flavour, depending on how much you kick up the lemon juice it can range from a hint of lemon to lip puckering. I'm a big fan of the latter but I tone it down for my other half who is less fond of sour flavours.

My mother picked up these recipes from a Halebi neighbour. Shorbat tarbiya is a soup enjoyed by Syrians of all ethnicities, but its origins go back to the Sefardic Jews who found refuge in the lands of the Ottoman Empire when they fled the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century.

The historic Syrian city of Haleb (Aleppo, Aram Tzova) already had an ancient Jewish community so it was a natural choice for these Sefardic refugees who over time were absorbed in to the Halebi community, along with traditions and recipes they brought with them from the Spanish Sefardi community, including sopa de huevos y limon, an eggy lemon chicken soup, thought to be the origin of the Syrian shorbat tarbiya and the Greek avgolemono. Greece at that time was also part of the Ottoman Empire and also home to ancient Jewish communities who welcomed those fleeing Inquisition era Spain and Portugal.

Which I guess a lot of geography and history to pack in to a simple and delicious soup. I learnt much of this story from esteemed cookbook writer and food historian Claudia Roden, who's many books brought the wonders of Middle Eastern food to a Western audience going back to the 1970s. She herself was born and raised in Egypt, but her parents were Syrian, I think from Haleb.

My mother learnt a lot of recipes from her Syrian Jewish neighbour, and this soup became a favourite. It's especially interesting considering that my mother's family were originally Sefardic Jews from the Balkans who went north during the instability of the 19th century Ottoman Empire. Perhaps the lemon rich recipes she learned from her neighbour unlocked some latent taste memory from her great-grandparents?

So how to make the soup:

Cook a whole chicken in a pot with a few bay leaves, a few whole cloves, a whole cinnamon stick, a couple of balls of allspice, a few cloves of garlic. Cover the chicken with water and cook covered in the pot for about an hour, or under the chicken is cooked through.

Then take out the chicken and shred it with two forks, set aside. Then mix up the juice of about 3-6 lemons (depending on size and how sour or lemony you want the soup) with 2 tbsp of corn or potato starch and one egg, beat until smooth then beat in to the soup with a whisk while bringing the soup to a boil. When the soup has started to thicken season to taste with salt and a little granulated/dried garlic, pepper. To serve add some of the shredded chicken to each bowl, and many people add some rice or orzo too.