How to use the online timer
Half an hour is a pot of soup at a bare simmer — long enough for lentils to collapse, for vegetables to give up their flavour, and for the whole thing to stop tasting like a list of separate ingredients. Lentil shorba is the version most kitchens here make on repeat through Ramadan, and it holds up as an ordinary weeknight dinner for the rest of the year.
Keep it at a simmer rather than a boil: bubbles breaking gently at the surface, not a rolling churn that reduces the liquid too far and catches on the base. Stir occasionally, especially with anything containing pulses. The count runs in this page, so leave the tab open while the pot sits — a closed tab ends the countdown even though the hob carries on.
Season at the end rather than the start. Thirty minutes of simmering concentrates whatever is in the pan, so salt added early can taste heavy-handed by the time it is served. Acid does the rest: a squeeze of lemon lifts a soup that tastes flat far more effectively than more salt, and it is much easier to add than to take out.
Common questions
Simmer or boil?
A simmer, with bubbles breaking gently at the surface. A rolling boil reduces the liquid too far, breaks up anything delicate and makes catching on the base far more likely, particularly with pulses.
When should I season it?
Towards the end. Half an hour of simmering concentrates what is already there, so salt added at the start can taste heavy by the time it is served. A squeeze of lemon lifts a flat soup better than more salt.
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