Harira

Harira is the traditional soup of Morocco, often eaten the end of the fast of Ramadan, it features small amounts of meat, rice , lentils chickpeas and plenty of spice This dish has featured on my blog twice before usually Nick cooks it It’s a great way of bulking out roasted meat leftovers to make another dish, especially if your guests have eaten a little more than you planned.

This was made using leftover BBQ Shoulder of Lamb, so I was able to a stock by simmering the lamb bone for an hour or so covered in water but you could use a strong vegetable of chicken stock since a lot of the flavouring comes from the spices, which add warm earthiness rather than a chillii burn. The large number of different pulses and grains might seem like overkill, but each adds a different texture, like daal to the power of ten.

The rice starch thickens the soup so you only need to eat a small bowl to feel full and nourished but not stuffed. I’ve stopped adding tinned tomatoes to most of my recipes since they can sometimes overpower a dish even as strong as this but if you want to make a vegetrian version some fresh tomatoes added with the stock would work well. You can throw in other pulses or grains bulgar wheat or beans. some recipes suggest vermicelli or noodles but think about how quick they usually cook and perhaps add them towards the end of cooking.

I like having a small portion for lunch with a warmed flatbread , you may need to loosen it with a little warter as you warm it through.

Harira

Makes enough for 6

200g of leftover roasted lamb pieces (or 1 lamb leg steak finely chopped) cut into 1/2 cm pieces
3 pints of lamb stock (vegestock would work fine)
100g of brown rice
100g of dried brown lentils
200g of tinned chick peas
2 tsp of paprika
1/2 tsp of timeric
1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
1 medium onion roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/2 a fresh lemon
1/2 tsp of dried chilli flakes
Handful of raisins or chopped dates
Finely chopped coriander & parsley

Sautee the onions and garlic with the spices, paprika, cumin , cinamon and dried chilli flake.
Add the lamb , lentils, chick peas , lemon , raisins and the stock. Bring to a gentle simmer.
Cook for 45 minutes, the rice and chick should have absorbed all the liquid but test one of each to make sure they are cooked. If you are using soaked dried chickpeas they might require some additional cooking
Remove the lemon ,and finally stir in the chopped parsley and coriander . You might want so add some mint.