Name: Clay Pot Soup Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 70 min
Ingredients: 2-1/2 lbs of lamb (the fattier the better); 3 medium tomatoes; 4 potatoes; 1 bag of small sweet peppers; 4-5 cloves of garlic; 2 medium carrots; 2 medium onions; 2 cups pre-soaked chickpeas (you can also use canned chickpeas); 2 cups of chopped parsley; 2 stalks of fresh thyme (optional, but oh so good); 8 TBSP ghee or butter or liquid oil of your choice (I go this route if my lamb is not fatty. Even then I might add a tsp); 2 tsp black pepper – to distribute among the pots; 1/4 salt per pot or as desired; 1/4 tsp crushed cumin seeds per pot; 1/4 tsp coriander powder per pot; Pinch of smoked paprika per pot (A must); Pinch of chili powder per pot (optional); chopped dill for garnish; Enough water to cover each pot with liquid

Have you ever tried Clay Pot soups? If you have not, this is your chance to use this clay pot soup recipe and make yourself one using this clay pot soup recipe. For me cooking this soup in a pot associates with my childhood. My mother used to make the best clay pot soups ever. Uzbeks call this soup Ko’za Sho’rva. While soups can and are made using different mediums like cast iron, enamel pots and other metals, clay pots offer a different type of comfort, beauty, taste and authenticity. There are great health benefits in cooking in these pots, too. Let’s see what benefits come with cooking in a clay pot.

There are certain benefits for cooking in a clay pot. The versatility of clay pots is amazing. They can be used on the stove top, in the ovens and on open fire. The clay pots are porous and circulation of air inside the pots are much different than it would be in other cook ware. Can you imagine cooking something in a pot, on an open fire? The taste is going to be unforgettable.

Another benefit of cooking in a clay pot is that these pots are alkaline, whereas other cooking mediums have reactive tendencies with acidic or alkaline ingredients. Which means the ingredients in these cooking ware will react to the containers they are being cooked in and this process will alter the way your food tastes. Even if you are using stainless steel or ceramic-lined pots, which are not reactive, the cooking process will never be even. Stainless steel and ceramic pots do happen to have hot spots.

Whenever I cook in the clay pot, I am guaranteed to have evenly cooked, melt in your mouth tender, delicious food. I purchased my earth pots from a Korean store. If you haven’t already noticed, Koreans love using this earthy pots in their cooking. I have 8 pots total and each pot serves 2 people very comfortably. This recipe will include all the ingredients for 8 pots. Now that we have gotten a little information about the clay pots, let’s get to the recipe of the soup made in these pots.

Ingredients:

Remember that all of these ingredients will be evenly divided across all 8 pots. If you are using a smaller pot, please adjust your ingredients accordingly.

2-1/2 lbs of lamb (the fattier the better)
3 medium tomatoes
4 potatoes
1 bag of small sweet peppers
4-5 cloves of garlic
2 medium carrots
2 medium onions
2 cups pre-soaked chickpeas (you can also use canned chickpeas)
2 cups of chopped parsley
2 stalks of fresh thyme (optional, but oh so good)
8 TBSP ghee or butter or liquid oil of your choice (I go this route if my lamb is not fatty. Even then I might add a tsp)
2 tsp black pepper – to distribute among the pots
1/4 salt per pot or as desired
1/4 tsp crushed cumin seeds per pot
1/4 tsp coriander powder per pot
Pinch of smoked paprika per pot (A must)
Pinch of chili powder per pot (optional)
chopped dill for garnish
Enough water to cover each pot with liquid

Directions:

Peel the skin of tomatoes and cut them in large cubes. Peel the potatoes and cut them in 2 inch cubes, too. Smash cleaned garlic with your knife and roughly cut them to have enough for 8 pots. Cut up lamb into 4 oz pieces. Chop cleaned onions in 1 inch cubes. Slice carrots into rings enough for the amount of the pots you have.

Prep all the pots and start evenly distributing solid ingredients in to them. Add 4 oz chunk of lamb, some tomato, potatoes, 1-1/2 pieces of smashed garlic, pieces of onion, 2 TBSP of chick peas, 2 pieces of sweet peppers.

Now it is time to add the spices. Add 1/4 tsp cumin, pinch of black pepper, pinch of chili pepper, 1/4 tsp coriander powder, and add the salt. Cooking in the pot means you can actually increase the amount of salt you can add. Since cooking in the pot makes the dish more alkaline, adding extra salt will result in more balanced PH, hence improving the taste of the soup.

Roughly chop the herbs (parsley and a little thyme) and place on top of of all the ingredients.

Since the cut of lamb I used wasn’t very fatty, I put roughly 1/2 TBSP of ghee in each pot. This will only make your soup more delicious. If you do not have ghee handy, you can use butter or avocado oil.

Place the pots on a baking pan for ease of handling. Place the trays in the oven and set the oven to 375F. Keep the pots in the oven for 45 minutes or until meat is tender. Check one of the pots for the readiness. Carefully remove the lid of the pot (it is going to be very hot!) and check if the ingredients are well cooked.

Garnish with dill and serve with hot bread. I hope you like this clay pot soup recipe. Please leave your feed back in the comments. I would love to hear from our readers.

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5 from 1 vote