RECIPE: REC: Moroccan lentil,chickpea & meat soup -"Harira" by Faye Levy

[elaineta]

This is a wonderful soup-stew - I usually double it.

Morcoccan lentil, chickpea & meat soup

1 cup lentils

2-4 tbsp. olive oil

1 pound beef shoulder or stew meat, diced small

1/2 onion , chopped fine

3 celery stalks, chopped fine

4 lg. garlic cloves, chopped fine

1/2 tsp. tumeric

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

6 c. chicken stock mixed with water

pinch of saffron

4 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped or a one lb. can diced tomatoes drained

1/2 cup Italian parsley chopped

one pound can chickpeas, drained

1 tbsp. flour

1-3 tsp. strained fresh lemon juice, or lemon wedges for serving

2-4- tbsp. coarsely chopped cilantro

Spread lentils on plate, pich through them, rinse and drain.

Heat oil in large saucepan and add beef, onion, celery,garlic,tumeric, pepper and cinnamon.

SAute over med. har, stirring often, for about 10 min. or untl the beef cubes change color.

Add stock mixture, saffron, lentils, tomatoes, parsley and chickpeas. Bring to boil, cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes. If soup is too thick, add 1-2 cups boiling water.Cook 45 min. more or until meat and lentils are tender.

Spoon flour into a small bow and stir in 1 tbs. water and 1 tbs. lemon juice. Stir until smooth. Gradually blend in 1 cup liquid from soup. POur mixture into pot of soup, stirring. Return to a simmer, stirring. Simmer for 1 min. Season soup

to taste with salt, pepper and more lemon juice if needed. Serve hot sprinkled with cilanto and accompanied, if you like, with lemon wedges. Makes 4-6 servings.

This is from Faye Levy's book - Feast from the Mideast.

Elaine/TA

 

[dawnnys]

Oooh this looks good, thanks!

 

[marilynfl]

Sounds great, Elaine. Here's a vegetarian version of Harira with African Berber spice mix

Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 00:49:45 GMT
From: Marilyn in FL

Rec: Summer Harira, a delicious soup/stew with 21 grams of fiber per serving

This recipe comes from the book "20/30 Fat & Fiber Diet Plan" by Gabe Mirkin, M.D. and Barry Fox, Ph.D. Their principle is very simple: each day a person should consume no more than 20 grams of fat and at least 30 grams of fiber. They believe whole grains/legumes provide a very stabalizing diet.

This soup was delicious, easy to make, and froze well. It makes a lot, so plan on having some containers available for freezing.

1 cup orange lentils
1 cup brown or green lentils
8 1/2 cups bouillion
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 TBL African Berber Spice Blend (see below)
1 15-oz can of garbanzo beans, undrained
1 15-oz can of small white beans, undrained
1 C cooked barley (or other whole grain)
1 C canned Italian plum tomatoes, chopeed
1/2 C chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 C fresh lemon juice

African Berber Spice Blend:
3 Tbl sweet paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix and store in airtight container.

************************
Cover the lentils with the bouillion and
let them soak while you prepare the other
ingredients.

In large pot or saucepan, cook onions,
peppers, celery, garlic, and spices in 1/2
C broth until soft (5-10 minutes)
Stir in lentils + liquid and bring to
boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 25-30
minutes. Add beans, grains and tomatoes.
Cook for 10 more minutes.

Right before serving, sprinkle on parsley
and lemon juice.

*************************
Marilyn's Notes:
I used one large can (6 C) and 1 soup size
can (2 C) of chicken broth. This had
enough salt to season the entire pot.
Used more onions and celery, 1/2 pound of
organic carrots, red peppers instead of
green bell and an entire can of diced
tomatoes.

I drained my canned beans and also added 1
can of Garcia black beans to the garbanzo
and small white bean (found those in the
Mexican/Spanish aisle)

Larry doesn't like barley, so I added
cooked quinoa instead. (Don't avoid the
grain. Combined with beans, the grains
makes a complete vegetarian protein.)

I didn't add the lemon juice to the pot.
Instead, I served fresh lemon wedges on the
side with each serving.

The frozen portions tasted just as good as
the fresh made.

Enjoy.

Yields 8-10 servings (I ended up with 12 1-Cup
servings with my additional ingredients)
Calories: 271
Fat: 2 grams
Dietary Fiber: 21 grams

PS: Our neighbor, who is a sworn meat &
potatoes kind of guy, absolutely loved this
dish.

PPS: I happen to have a lot of spices, so
the Berber mixture was a cake walk for me.
If anyone would like to try this recipe,
but only has the Holy Trinity of Spices
(salt, pepper & cinnamon), please put in a
note and I'll mail you off some. No sense
in buying a bunch of spices if you might
not like it. The mixture makes ~1/3 cup;
the recipe uses 1 Tbl.

 

[ruthab]

These both look really good - perfect for this cold weather we've been having!