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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes |
Ready In: 0 Minutes Servings: 8 |
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Harira is Morocco's best-known, and best-loved, soup. Families eat this herb-rich, tomato-based soup year-round. During Ramadan, however, it's obligatory, and pots of the soup simmer away in kitchens across the country. Accompanied by dates and honeyed, flower-shaped cookies sprinkled with sesame seeds called chebakia, a bowl of harira is the traditional way to break the fast. The velvety-smooth soup—whisking in flour, or sometimes egg, at the end gives that distinct texture—is nourishing and easy on an empty stomach. I have enjoyed harira around numerous family tables and at street stalls—each version has been different. As a woman in Fes once said to me, There are as many recipes for harira in Morocco as there are cooks. Ingredients:
1 lb/455 g stewing beef, cut into 1/2-in/12-mm cubes |
1 cup/170 g finely chopped celery stalks, tender green parts and leaves only |
1 medium onion, finely chopped |
1/3 cup/15 g loosely packed, finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley |
1/3 cup/15 g loosely packed, finely chopped fresh cilantro |
1 tbsp butter, smen, or olive oil |
1 tsp ground ginger |
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon |
salt and freshly ground black pepper |
two 14-oz/410-g cans peeled whole tomatoes, seeded and puréed with all the juices |
3 tbsp tomato paste |
1 cup/170 g canned chickpeas, rinsed |
1/4 cup/30 g all-purpose flour |
juice of 1 lemon |
1 oz/30 g vermicelli or angel hair pasta, broken into 3/4-in/2-cm lengths |
1 lemon, cut into wedges |
12 dates, preferably mejhoul |
12 dried figs |
Directions:
1. In a large soup pot, put the meat, celery, onion, parsley, cilantro, butter, ginger, and cinnamon. Season with salt and plenty of pepper. Cover with 6 cups/1.5 L water, stir well, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour.
2. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and chickpeas, and stir in 1 1/2 cups/360 ml water. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over low heat, warm 1 cup/240 ml water and whisk in the flour and lemon juice. Remove from the heat, let sit for 10 minutes, and then whisk again.
4. Add the flour mixture to the soup in a slow but steady stream while continually stirring. Cook, stirring frequently to avoid any sticking, for 10 minutes. Sprinkle in the vermicelli and cook until the pasta is tender, about 5 minutes. The texture of the soup should be velvety.
5. Serve in bowls with lemon wedges on the side and with the dates and figs on a small platter.
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