What is Harira?

Harira is a traditional soup in Moroccan cuisine, which is usually served as the first meal that Muslims broke through Ramadan during the month of Ramadan. The soup is served throughout Morocco and there are many versions, but the ingredients that characterize it are a combination of lenses and chickpeas, broth, tomatoes, onions, ginger, cinnamon, saffron and pepper. The meat is a common accessory, as well as flour or beaten eggs to deny the broth. In Ramadan, the soup is often served with dried and fresh fruit, pastry, eggs and milk, juice or coffee. A large evening meal is served to balance daily fasting, but in Morocco it is traditional to serve lighter food Harira, drinks, fruit and pastry immediately after sunset and larger food later. Harira is also sometimes consumed early in the morning daily speed begins.

Like most traditional dishes, Harira has countless regional and family variations. Particularly runThe vein is adding lemon juice along with beaten eggs. Although meat is not the highlight of the soup, it is usually used and can be a chicken, lamb or, less often beef. Potatoes, rice or noodles are common accessories. One traditional way to prepare the soup uses a small piece of Moroccan type of quarry starter as a thickening agent, which also adds the sour quality of the broth.

vegetables that are sometimes used include spinach, carrot, celery, leeks or spring onions. The spices reflect a wide variety used in cooling in North African and ampoucation, and in addition to basic ginger, cinnamon, saffron and pepper, they can include coriander, parsley, mint, coriander, cumin, cloves, spices, nutmeg, pepper, caramoma, pepper, tourmeric and chili. Smen, salted, preserved butter like Ghee, is a frequent accessory and adds a distinctive taste that resembles parmesan.

Traditional Harira preparation is a lengthy process due to the number of components and time needed for cooking. Dried lentils and chickpeasThey must be soaked and hard leather is removed from the chickpeas. The use of canned chickpeas eliminates the most time -consuming part of this process. There are many vegetables and spices to be prepared, and some chefs will do this part of the preparation in advance and freeze the ingredients. Harira cooks well in a slow stove, reducing the need to watch how they cook.