← Nouns Cooking · Moroccan

Ingredients

• 250 g lamb or beef, cut into 1 cm dice
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 Onion, grated
• 2 celery sticks, with leaves, finely chopped
• 1 bunch small bunch parsley, finely chopped
• 1 bunch small bunch coriander, finely chopped
• 1 tsp Ground ginger
• 1 tsp Ground turmeric
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp Black pepper
• 2 tsp Salt
• 900 g ripe tomatoes (or 2 × 400 g cans), grated or blended
• 2 tbsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 100 g brown or green lentils, rinsed
• 2 l Water
• 1 can chickpeas (400 g can), drained
• 40 g rice or broken vermicelli
• 60 g plain flour, whisked into 250 ml cold water
• 1 Lemon, cut into wedges, to serve
• dates, to serve (traditional) (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the meat, onion, celery, half the parsley and coriander, and all the spices and salt. Cook for 5 min, stirring, until the meat loses its pink colour.
2. Stir in the tomatoes and tomato paste and simmer for 10 min until slightly thickened.
3. Add the lentils and water, bring to the boil, then cover partly and simmer for 45 min, until the meat and lentils are tender.
4. Add the chickpeas and rice (or vermicelli) and simmer for 15–20 min more until the rice is soft.
5. Whisk the flour-and-water mix again, then pour it into the soup in a thin stream, stirring all the time. Simmer for 10 min, still stirring often, until the soup turns silky and lightly thick. Add a little water if it gets too thick.
6. Stir in the rest of the herbs, taste for salt and pepper, and serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over.

Tips

• For a vegetarian harira, leave out the meat and use vegetable stock instead of water.
• Contains wheat from the flour thickener; for gluten-free, thicken with cornflour instead.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Taste of Maroc Moroccan Zest BBC Good Food