Moroccan Harira A Favourite In Algeria Recipes

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook onion until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, cilantro, parsley, mint, paprika, turmeric, ginger, harissa, and saffron. Add water and cook over medium heat until flavors have combined, about 30 minutes.
• Mix a few tablespoons of soup liquid with flour and cornstarch in a small bowl and return to the soup, stirring in well. Add cherry tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer over low heat until soup thickens, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Steps:

• In a medium sized bowl, pour 1 cup of water, the lemon juice and the flour. Set aside.
• Also put 1 garlic clove and 1/4 of the corriander to one side until the end of cooking.
• Take a heavy bottomed pan or pressure cooker and place the meat (if using small pieces or boneless meat, it's best to secure them in a muslin cloth bag), add the vegetables and remaining corriander roughly chopped.
• Fry those ingredients with a little oil, 1 tsp of ras el hanout for a couple of minutes then pour on the water and leave to simmer, covered for 1 and a 1/2 hours or around 45 minutes in a pressure cooker. (or until meat and vegetables are tender) Add salt & pepper to taste.
• Remove the meat and set aside. Remove any traces of bones, gristle etc.
• Liquidise the remaining vegetables and push through sieve when finished, take another cup of freshly boiled water and pour over sieve to get any last traces!
• Put everything back in the pan and on low heat (just enough to reach a slow boil) You may wish to add a little more water or stock at this stage.
• When the harira reaches the boil, lower heat a little & add the flour mixture prepared in step 1. Add a few tbsp of the harira to the flour mix first. Remember to add gradually and stir continuously to avoid lumps.
• Turn heat to low and finely chopped coriander (last 1/4), final garlic clove minced & 2 tsp of ras el hanout. Allow the harira to heat through again so garlic is not raw.
• Sprinkle more coriander on top if desired and serve with fresh bread.

Steps:

• In a heavy kettle (at least 5 quarts) simmer chicken in broth and water 17 to 20 minutes, or until chicken is just cooked through, and transfer chicken with a slotted spoon to a cutting board. Add to kettle tomatoes, saffron, onions, chick-peas, rice, and lentils and simmer, covered, 30 minutes, or until lentils are tender. Shred chicken, discarding skin and bones, and stir into soup with salt and pepper to taste. Soup may be prepared 4 days ahead (cool uncovered before chilling covered).
• In a bowl soak chick-peas in water to cover by 2 inches overnight or quick-soak (procedure follows) and drain.
• To Cook Dried Chickpeas:
• In a saucepan combine drained chick-peas and water to cover by 2 inches and simmer, covered partially, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until tender. Drain chick-peas.
• To make 2 cups cooked chick-peas begin with a scant cup dried.
• Just before serving, stir in coriander and parsley.
• To Quick-Soak Dried Beans
• Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.
• In a large saucepan combine dried beans, picked over and rinsed, with triple their volume of cold water. Bring the water to a boil and cook beans, uncovered, over moderate heat 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let beans soak 1 hour.

Steps:

• In a large soup pot, saute the onion, parsley, celery, pepper and turmeric in the butter for a few minutes, then add the cinnamon and other spices.
• Saute on very low heat for about 15 minutes or less, until the onions are soft and the spices are well-distributed.
• Wash the lentils.
• Puree the coriander leaves in a blender with a little water, or pound with a mortar and pestle.
• Add both to the pot, along with the crushed tomatoes (I also like to puree the tomatoes in the blender before I add them, to eliminate any large chunks that might remain).
• Cook for 15 minutes over low heat, and then add 1 1/2 quarts of water (about 7 cups).
• Add the soup cube.
• Cook on low/medium heat until the lentils are soft (I usually let the soup cook for about 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend).
• A few minutes before serving, add salt to the soup (you could also add some vermicelli or other small soup noodle at this point, but I personally don't; if you do, make sure to allow an extra few minutes for the noodles to cook).
• Add the flour and water mixture; mix well to prevent lumps from forming.
• Serve with lemon wedges on the side, to be squeezed over the soup.