Harira
Harira is Morocco's most important soup. The name comes from the Arabic word for silk — a reference to the velvety texture it gets from a flour-and-water slurry (tedouira) stirred in at the end. Every Moroccan family has their version, but the spine is always the same: tomatoes, chickpeas, lentils, fresh herbs, ginger, and warm spices. It is the soup that breaks the Ramadan fast every evening at iftar, served alongside dates, hard-boiled eggs, and chebakia cookies. It is also eaten through the rest of the year, as a starter or as a meal in itself. The lamb version is the most traditional, but the vegetarian version is nearly as popular.
Ingredients
- 300 gboneless lamb shoulder or beef chuck
- 240 gcanned chickpeas
- 100 ggreen or brown lentils
- 400 gcanned crushed tomatoes or 4 large fresh tomatoes
- 2 tbsptomato paste
- 1 medium onion
- 3 celery stalks
- 3 garlic cloves
- 30 gcilantro
- 20 gfresh flat-leaf parsley
- 3 tbspextra-virgin olive oil
- 1.5 tspground ginger
- 1 tspground turmeric
- 1 tspground cinnamon
- 1 tspsweet paprika
- ½ tspblack pepper
- 1.2 Lwater or light chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 tbspplain flour
- 60 mlcold water
- 1 lemon
Method
- Brown the meat and build the base. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the lamb or beef and brown on all sides — 5 to 6 minutes. Don't crowd the pot; brown in batches if needed. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until golden. Add the garlic, celery, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, and black pepper. Stir and cook for 2 minutes until the spices are fragrant. For a vegetarian version, skip the meat and start directly with the onion.
- Add the tomatoes, herbs, and legumes. Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the tomato paste darkens slightly. Add the drained chickpeas, lentils, half the chopped coriander, and half the parsley. Pour in the stock or water. Stir everything together and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Simmer until everything is tender. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 to 55 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are fully cooked and beginning to break down and the meat is tender. The lentils thicken the soup naturally as they cook. If the soup looks too thick, add a little more water. Taste and adjust salt — harira needs generous seasoning.
- Make the tedouira and finish the soup. In a small bowl, whisk the flour with the cold water until completely smooth with no lumps. This is the tedouira — the traditional flour slurry that gives harira its silky texture. With the soup at a gentle simmer, slowly pour the tedouira into the pot while stirring constantly. The soup will thicken noticeably within 2 to 3 minutes. Keep stirring to prevent lumps. Simmer for another 5 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste.
- Finish with herbs and serve. Stir in the remaining coriander and parsley. Taste one final time and adjust seasoning. The soup should be thick, silky, and deeply flavoured. Ladle into bowls and serve hot with lemon wedges. Traditional accompaniments: fresh dates, hard-boiled eggs, and warm Moroccan bread (khobz).
FAQ
Tedouira is a thin paste made from flour whisked with cold water. Stirred into harira near the end of cooking, it thickens the broth and gives the soup its characteristic silky texture — the quality described by the name 'harira' which means silk in Arabic. Some modern versions use cornstarch instead of flour, which produces a cleaner, more neutral thickening. Both work; flour is more traditional.
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Comments (1)
Харира — это не просто суп, это символ Рамадана. В Марокко её едят первым делом после захода солнца, вместе с финиками и яйцами — это обязательная тройка для ифтара. Секрет шёлковой текстуры — тедуира, разведённая мука, которая загущает бульон в последние 5 минут. Без неё — хороший гороховый суп. С ней — харира: тот самый бархатистый вкус, который дал супу название (с арабского harir означает шёлк). На второй день она становится ещё лучше.