Harira (Vegetarian Moroccan soup)
Harira is a hearty Moroccan soup loaded with a lot of delicious ingredients like chickpeas, lentils, vermicelli, vegetables, fresh herbs, and spices. It's made both with and without meat and this is a meat-free version of Harira. This satisfying soup can be enjoyed as a meal too.
Servings 6
Calories 271kcal
Equipment
- Cooking pot
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked chickpea
- ½ cup uncooked green lentils
- ½ cup uncooked red lentils
- ¼ cup vermicelli
- 1 medium-sized yellow onion finely chopped
- 2 celery stalks finely chopped
- 1 medium-sized carrot finely chopped
- 2-3 large garlic cloves minced
- ½ cup fresh cilantro very finely chopped
- ½ cup fresh parsley very finely chopped
- lemon juice to taste
- 1.5 cups passata or canned crushed tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- Ground black pepper to taste
- Salt to taste
- 7 cups vegetable stock/ water adjust to get the desired consistency
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Heat oil in a cooking pot. Add chopped onion, carrot, and celery. Cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add minced garlic and all the spices. Saute for about a minute.
- Add tomato paste, rinsed red and green lentils, chopped cilantro, and parsley. Mix everything and saute for about 1-2 minutes.
- Add passata and salt. Saute for a minute.
- Add vegetable stock. Mix and cover the pot. Cook covered for around 30-40 minutes on a medium flame or until the lentils are cooked.
- Add boiled chickpeas and vermicelli. Cook for another 10-12 minutes or until the vermicelli is cooked.
- Finally, add lemon juice and fresh cilantro. Enjoy your soup!
Video
Notes
- You can also use canned lentils in this recipe, just make sure to rinse them before using to get rid of the metallic taste.
- To add some heat to the soup, add a few teaspoons of harissa.
- Rice is also added to harira instead of vermicelli, you can use whatever you prefer. Adding rice will make harira gluten-free.
- For a creamier version of harira, some people remove the skin of soaked chickpeas before cooking. I generally don't do that because I feel it's a wastage of nutrients and very time-consuming too. You can do it whichever way you prefer.
- Harira tastes even better the next day of making, so you can think of cooking it in advance too.
- More recipe tips and tricks are shared in the post above, please follow them to make this recipe.
Nutrition
Calories: 271kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 1194mg | Potassium: 823mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 3274IU | Vitamin C: 19mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 5mg