Spiced lentils with lamb (yakhni’l-adas) and swiss chard in yogurt (siliq bil laban)

These recipes come from Nawal Nasrallah’s Delights from the Garden of Eden, a historically-minded Iraqi cookbook. According to Nasrallah, yakhni not only describes a stew that is rather thick and mushy in consistency, but also is used as a slang word meaning old news: “If prolonged simmering might spoil your news, it does wonder to your lentils.”  Lentil soup may not stop the presses, but some comfort foods never get tired.