Yemeni spiced beef soup (Marak teimani)

1. Cut the beef shank into large pieces, cover with the water in a large pan, bring to the boil and skim thoroughly.

2. Add the whole peeled onion, the whole tomatoes and half the hawaij spice mix and cook covered over low heat for 2 hours.

3. Add the peeled potatoes cut into large chunks, the remaining hawaij and the salt and cook for 30 more minutes.

4. Meanwhile roughly chop the coriander with the garlic.

5. In the last 5 minutes stir half of the coriander and the garlic into the soup and fish out the tomato skins.

6. Serve hot, sprinkled with the remaining coriander, with zhug hot sauce and Yemeni flatbread (or pita).

Tip: Marak teimani is the Friday-night soup of Yemeni Jewish cooking, still called healing Yemeni penicillin in Israel today. The soup version of hawaij is a blend of cumin, pepper, turmeric and cardamom; if you have none, mix them yourself in a 2:1:1:0.5 ratio.