Harira
Harira is a spicy, lemony North African soup of lentils, chickpeas and pasta. Traditionally the dish includes preserved lemons, which can be purchased from ethnic markets and are easy to make at home. If you don’t have preserved lemons, you can use lemon juice in their place. The results are still delicious.
- 1 c. fine vermicelli or broken spaghetti
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 t. ground cinnamon
- 1 t. ground ginger
- 1 t. paprika
- ½ t. cayenne pepper
- ½ t. ground coriander
- ½ t. cumin
- ½ t. ground caraway seeds
- 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 8 c. vegetable stock
- ½ c. red lentils
- 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 large eggplant (about a pound) cut into 1” cubes
- ½ preserved lemon, chopped, or ¼ c. lemon juice
- ½ c. chopped cilantro
- Salt to taste
- Lemon wedges to serve
Cook the vermicelli in boiling water until tender. Drain, rinse, and set aside. If you will be eating the entire recipe at one sitting, you can add the uncooked vermicelli directly to the pot 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time, but if you plan to have leftovers, it is better to keep the pasta separate as it tends to absorb too much liquid when left sitting overnight.
In a large soup pot, sauté the onion in a little water until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for about one minute more. Add the cinnamon, ginger, paprika, cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, and caraway and stir until onions are coated with spices.
Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, lentils, chickpeas, and eggplant. Simmer, partially covered, until eggplant is tender, about 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the preserved lemon (or lemon juice) and cilantro. Add salt to taste.
To serve, place a portion of pasta in each bowl and ladle the soup over it. Offer additional lemon wedges on the side.
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