Alice Chera's Shudbeh Soup

Lots of people know and love the Cheras, but the best thing at the Cheech house by far is Alice's shudbeh soup. I recently discovered this gem because my boyfriends been asking me to get the recipe forever. It took a while but I finally got it out of Esther. The hardest part is not making it every week.

What you need: 

Pam (or another cooking spray)

1 onion

1 can tomatoe paste

1/2 cup of short grain rice (I use goya)

1/2 pound chopped meat

allspice

salt

cinnamon

What you need to do:

1) Grab a large meat pot and spray it with pam on the bottom and sides. 

2) Fill it 3/4 of the way with water and put it to boil.

3) Peel an onion and cut a slit in it, till the middle. Put it in the water

4) Add about half the can of tomatoe paste to the water and mix it. You want it to be a nice salmon color, not so red. 

5) Add about 1/2 a cup of short grain rice. (You're not going to know how much rice to put the first time. Its more of a trial and error thing, but the good news is you can always add more. I generally put 3/4 of, or a full cup. 

6) Add salt. Lots of salt.

7) Take your chopped meat and put some allspice, salt, and a pinch of Cinnamon. Mix it and form them into balls. Throw those into the pot.

8) Get the soup to a low boil, then lower the fire to medium/low. 

9) Cover the pot and let it cook for about 1 and a half to 2 hours, stirring regularly. 

10) Once the soup is thick, like you can look at it and see only the rice, its ready. If it isnt getting thick, keep adding rice, usually 1/3 of a cup at a time. Keep adding salt. It needs a lot of salt

11) Enjoy that shit while u can.

(and heres Daniel eating a pyrex full. Thanks Alice!)