Morocco / Soup
Harira
A thick soup of lentils, chickpeas and tomato, bound with a flour slurry and finished with lemon.
Ingredients
- Lamb, in small dice300 g
- Chickpeas, soaked overnight150 g
- Green lentils100 g
- Tomatoes, grated600 g
- Onion1
- Celery2
- Coriander and parsley60 g
- Ground ginger1 tsp
- Cinnamon1/2 tsp
- Plain flour4 tbsp
- Vermicelli60 g
- Lemonto taste
- Salt and pepperto taste
Quantities are auto-calculated from the original recipe as a guide. Items without numbers (e.g. “to taste”) are not changed.
Method 5 steps
Fry the lamb with the onion, ginger and cinnamon for five minutes, add the chopped celery and herbs and give it two more.
Add the grated tomato and the chickpeas, pour in two litres of water and simmer for an hour, until the chickpeas are soft.
Add the lentils and give it twenty minutes more.
Whisk the flour into a cup of cold water until completely smooth and pour it in as a thin stream, stirring without stopping. Cook five minutes: the soup thickens and turns matt.
Add the vermicelli and cook until done. Serve with lemon and dates — that pairing is not accidental: sweet and sour at once.
