Rishta (Lentil Soup with Homemade Noodles)

1Preparation

1. Mix the flour and salt, add the water gradually and knead into a smooth, firm dough that doesn't stick.
2. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.
3. Roll the dough out very thin on a floured surface, then cut it into strips 1 cm wide and 6 cm long.
4. Dust the strips with a little flour so they don't stick.
5. Pick over the lentils and rinse them.

2Cooking

1. Simmer the lentils in the water with the cumin until completely tender.

   🔥 medium heat⏱ 30 min timer
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the onion until golden brown.

   🔥 medium heat⏱ 12 min timer
3. Add the garlic and coriander to the onion and stir until the coriander wilts and smells fragrant.

   🔥 low heat⏱ 2 min timer
4. Season the lentils with salt and pepper, then drop in the dough strips gradually, stirring.

   🔥 medium heat⏱ 2 min timer
5. Simmer, stirring now and then, until the noodles are cooked and the soup has thickened.

   🔥 medium heat⏱ 12 min timer
6. Stir half of the fried topping into the soup.

   🔥 low heat⏱ 1 min timer

3Serving

1. Ladle the rishta into deep bowls and top with the rest of the fried topping.
2. Serve hot with lemon wedges for squeezing over.

💡 Tips & common mistakes

• Common mistake: dropping all the noodles in at once so they clump together. Add them gradually while stirring.
• Rishta thickens a lot as it cools — loosen it with a little hot water when reheating.

🔁 Substitutions

• To save time, use broken flat ribbon pasta (such as tagliatelle) instead of homemade dough.