Hajar S Own Harira the National Soup of Morocco
there are as many recipes for harira as there are people who eat it though there are essentials. the beans and lentils, cilantro (fresh leaf), tomato and pasta of some sort. this is my own recipe based on ingredients and flavors which i enjoyed from other hariras. harira is eaten all year, not only at ramadan though it would not be ramadan without it! this soup along with others is used traditionally for breakfast at sunset. this would be a first course served with accompaniments and bread before moving on to heavier foods. many break fast with milk and dates; a very old tradition and i doubt that they knew way back when that the combination of natural sugar and the milk protein were a near perfect combination. some find this a bit too rough for the first thing in the stomach. while harira is the national soup of morocco, history tells that this is not a moroccan invention but an invention of the maghreb of which morocco is a part. this recipe may look truly daunting though it really isn't. in our house the first course on the table is always either harira, chorba, or one of my stews; usually chicken, dates, pistachios and fruit. then after that settles we move on to a normal main course without the use of garlic as it is forbidden during ramadan. before bed we will usually have a pot of tea and a rice pudding, dessert couscous or just the tea. shebakia, the very honey sweet special ramadan sesame cookies are always here though we prefer to have them with coffee and not necessarily daily.
Ingredients
- dried fava beans
- dried garbanzo beans
- water
- vegetable oil
- onions
- lamb
- tomatoes
- ground turmeric
- ground ginger
- sweet smoked paprika
- nutmeg
- caraway seed
- tomato paste
- lemon
- flour
- flat leaf parsley
- fresh coriander leaves
- lentils
Preparation
- 1rinse and pick over fava beans if you can't get these then use dried broad / lima / butter beans and chickpeas
- 2soak overnight in water to cover
- 3quick soak method
- 4place beans in large soup pot and add 2 litres hot water
- 5bring water to a rolling boil for 5 minutes
- 6turn off heat and soak beans for 1 1 / 2 to 2 hours
- 7squeeze each fava bean and chickpea between your thumb and first two fingers to remove skins
- 8set aside
- 9in large soup pot over medium heat , cook the onions and meat stirring occasionally , until onions are soft and translucent
- 10add turmeric , ginger , paprika and 2 litres water
- 11cover and bring to rolling boil
- 12reduce heat to medium-low , add fava beans , chickpeas and cook , covered , until beans are tender
- 131 to 1 1 / 2 hours depending on your beans
- 14finely chop together tomatoes , parsley and cilantro
- 15add this mixture along with the tomato paste , the lentils , pepper , juice of the lemon and drop in 1 / 2 of the squeezed lemon and salt to taste
- 16cover and cook until lentils are tender 20 to 25 minutes
- 17bring back to the boil and make a fairly thick slurry with the 1 / 2 cup of flour
- 18add this to the boiling soup stirring very briskly to avoid lumps