Hajars Own Harira The National Soup Of Morocco Food

HAJAR'S OWN HARIRA -- THE NATIONAL SOUP OF MOROCCO

Steps:

• Rinse and pick over fava beans if you can't get these then use dried broad/lima/butter beans and chickpeas. Soak overnight in water to cover. Quick soak method; place beans in large soup pot and add 2 litres hot water. Bring water to a rolling boil for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and soak beans for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Squeeze each fava bean and chickpea between your thumb and first two fingers to remove skins. Set aside.
• In large soup pot over medium heat, cook the onions and meat (chicken can be used as well as beef or no meat at all though NEVER pork) stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and translucent.
• Add turmeric, ginger, paprika and 2 litres water. Cover and bring to rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, add fava beans, chickpeas and cook, covered, until beans are tender. 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on your beans.
• Finely chop together tomatoes, parsley and cilantro. Add 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. Cover and cook until lentils are tender 20 to 25 minutes.
• Bring back to the boil and make a fairly thick slurry (flour and water) with the 1/2 cup of flour. Add this to the boiling soup stirring very briskly to avoid lumps. Boil one minute stirring constantly. Add nutmeg and caraway. Bring the soup to medium heat, you just want a nice slow bubbling.
• Add pasta (orzo or small soup pasta can be used as well though I always prefer vermicelli) and cook until soft. Taste and add salt to taste and adjust pepper. When soup is heated through, ladle harira into individual soup bowls. Serve immediately with lemon wedges, Moroccan flat bread ("My Rough Khoubz works well) or crusty french baguette. This soup should be velvety, not overly thick.
• Prep time does not include soaking the beans.
• NB: Harira is eaten all year, not only at Ramadan. In Morocco the nutmeg is ground to a powder which is darker and very pungent. If you cannot find or do your nutmeg this way, then I recommend that you purchase the freshest nutmeg that you can find.

HAJAR'S BEST MOROCCAN CHORBA

Steps:

• If you cannot find turnips use kholrabi or other similar firm vegetable, even cabbage in chunks! You can also simply omit it. We use what we have not necessarily what we need here in Morocco. Just do not use rutabegas/swede! Most of we Moroccan home cooks use the 1 teaspoons of good turmeric instead of the saffron but you must use one or the other as this is mainly for color.
• Peel and cut the vegetables into little pieces(except for tomatoes), put them inside a stew pot ,add the meat cut in little pieces plus the vegetables with parsley,crushed onion (grated or very finely minced),oil salt, pepper and saffron. Add 2 ltres of water, put the pot on until boiling.
• Fold the parsley into a bundle/packet and tie with a stem or kitchen string.
• Remove the tomato cores, wash them and plunge them for 30 seconds into boiling water before peeling them, crush the pulp with a fork in a bowl or on a plate, put the tomatoes in the pot and mix. Cover and leave it cook on a medium fire for 60 minutes.
• 10 minutes before serving, throw vermecilli in rain (scatter) , cover 3/4 and leave it to cook. Serve as soon as it is cooked. Pasta is done. Please do not cook your Moroccan dishes with pasta al dente; al just isn't to be found. We think that he left for America! Also, here someone always eats the parsley bundle.

HARIRA

Steps:

• 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.
• Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and chickpeas, and stir in 1 1/2 cups/360 ml water. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
• 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.
• 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.
• Serve in bowls with lemon wedges on the side and with the dates and figs on a small platter.