My take on the traditional Moroccan soup/stew. Tomato, onion, celery base, laced with toasted spices, warming fresh ginger, garlic and thickened with lentils and chickpeas. Harira is usually served during Ramadan and there are many different variations some with lamb some with egg, but mine is unintentionally vegan with charred peppers and it slaps so hard you don't miss the meat.
I finish with a drizzle of cumin seed oil, dollops of silky hummus and fresh coriander. Warm flat breads are a must!
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 40 min
Cuisine: Moroccan
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
Olive oil
2 sticks celery chopped
1 carrot finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
Inch fresh ginger finely chopped
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 red chilli chopped
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
40g red lentils
2 bell peppers (red and yellow) chopped into chunks
1 can chickpeas drained
1 can chopped tomatoes
3 fresh ripe tomatoes chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
750ml veg stock
Juice 1/2 lemon
Salt and Pep
Handful fresh coriander
Hummus/Yogurt to serve
Cumin oil:
1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
METHOD
In a large saucepan fry onion, celery and carrot until the onions start to brown and the veg begins to soften around 10 min.
Meanwhile toast the cumin seeds and coriander seeds in a pan for a few min then blitz/bash to a rough powder using a wizzy or pestle and mortar.
For the cumin seed oil, toast the cumin seeds in a small pan then add in the oil allow to marry together on a low heat for 5 minutes before transferring to a bowl to cool for serving.
Once the veg has softened add in the garlic, ginger and chili to fry for a few min before cooking off all the spices for a further few min.
Pour in your stock, chickpeas, tinned tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, lentils and tomato paste. Give it a good stir then bring to the boil and reduce to simmer with the lid on for 25 minutes. Make sure you give it a stir 1/2 way.
Whilst the soups cooking we'll get the peppers sorted. Turn your grill on to max temp, toss the pepper in some olive oil and salt place on a baking tray and pop under the hot grill to charr for around 5-10 minutes make sure you flip them to get even colour, you want to edges to blacken and the flesh to be soft.
When your soups done, remove the lid, taste and season to your liking with salt and pepper. If you want it thickened allow to reduce for 5 min with the lid off or if you want it looser just add a dash of water.
Add 3/4 the charred peppers to the soup then save 1/4 to garnish and finish with fresh lemon juice to elevate this bad bitch.
Garnish with the fresh coriander, charred peppers, dollops of cooling yogurt/hummus and a good drizzle of the cumin seed oil.