Astoria Soup

Should you be able to find sumac and zataar at your local supermarket, you should really give this soup a try. Sumac is a sweet and sour berry, and zataar is a mixture of sesame seeds, thyme and sumac berries.
This wonderful soup doesn't have to cook for hours on the stove, once you have your ingredients all chopped up it will be ready to serve in 15 minutes.
It is, of course, another Jamie Oliver recipe...

Astoria Soup
(Jamie's America)

Ingredients
serves 6

75 g (1/3 cup) bulgur wheat
3 peppers (red or mixed colours), deseeded and finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

olive oil

2 tbsp sumac

2 tbsp zataar

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

12 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 400g (14 oz) tin of chopped tomatoes

1,3 l (5 cups) chicken or vegetable stock

6 flour tortillas
salt and pepper
a small handful of mint leaves
1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve

1. Cook bulgur wheat until tender, drain and set aside (approx. 15 min.)

2. Put your finely chopped onion, peppers and garlic into a large pan with a few lugs of olive oil and a good pinch  of salt and pepper, and cook on the highest heat for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add your spices and cook for another minute.

3. Add your cooked bulgar wheat, fresh and tinned tomatoes, and stock. Slowly bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Then, check the seasoning and preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F.

4. Brush a little olive oil over your tortillas, then dust a little sumac and zaatar onto them. Lay them flat on a baking tray and warm them up in the oven for a couple of minutes until the edges crisp up.

5. Serve your tortillas on the side for dipping, or pop them into the bowls before pouring over the gorgeous soup. Sprinkle over a little extra sumac, zaatar and cumin, scatter over your torn-up mint leaves and you're done. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.