Lamb Soup

Offering sacrifices of animals has been provided by people all around the world since ancient times and although there are different events and local traditions in line with the different religions, lambs and birds were killed as a symbol of gratitude to God, forgiveness of sins and prayer for health. In Bulgaria if somebody's life has been in danger at any moment of his life, his relatives prepare kourban lamb soup to thank God for the successful outcome. But even if everything is OK,  lamb soup is tasty and worth it. 

Here is one recipe with lots of meat and few vegetables - delicious and easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds (750 g) lamb shoulder with the bones
• 1 oz (30 g) butter
• 1 medium onion, cut into half
• 3 carrots
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1 Tbsp hot pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp dry spearmint
• 1 Tbsp salt
• freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

Put lamb into a pot and cover with water. Add onion, salt and pepper and simmer for about an hour until meat is nearly falling off the bones. Place meat on a cutting board and chop into small pieces. Sieve liquid and return meat to the clear bouillon. Add dry spearmint.

Heat butter in a pan until it starts to sizzle and add the flour. When it starts changing its color to golden, add hot pepper flakes, stir again and pour over the soup. 

Simmer, covered, for additional 10 minutes and serve hot with some ground black pepper.