Casablanca

I have been trying lots of new recipes lately. David is helping. Mostly by not objecting. He has a friend who tries new recipes and posts them on Facebook. This one looked good so he read it to me and we decided to try it. I never made anything from the Middle East before. But I will try anything. (Except lima beans or beets. Eww.)

Harira (Moroccan Lentil and Tomato Soup)

Ingredients

1 lb of Lamb or Beef, Cubed
6 Large Tomatoes, Peeled, Seeded and Pureed
2 Cups of Dried Chickpeas, Soaked Overnight or 4 1/2 Cups of Canned
2 Cups of Dried Lentils
2 Celery Stalks with Leaves, Finely Chopped
1 Large Onion, Grated
4 tbls of Fresh Cilantro
4 tbls of Fresh Parsley
3 tbls of Tomato Paste
3 tbls of Rice or Broken Vermicelli
1 tbls of Butter
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Ginger
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Tumeric
3 tbls Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs, Beaten

Directons

Heat oil in a pan and cook meat for 5 minutes.

Add everything except the tomato paste, lentils and rice. Also, only add the chickpeas if you were using dried. If canned wait until later. Add eight cups of water. Stir well.

Mix tomato paste with 1/2 cup of water. Add it and the lentils to the pot. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 2 hours.

Add in the rice or noodles and the chickpeas if you are using canned. Simmer another 10 minutes.

Slowly pour the beaten eggs into the simmering soup, stirring constantly. Simmer 1 more minute.

Now I adapted this from the original recipe and my conversions may be off. I used canned tomato puree. My soup was really more of a super thick stew. And I really needed to add the rice earlier. 10 minutes was not long enough to cook the rice. Maybe I should have added precooked rice. It didn't say.

It smelled like nothing I ever smelled before while it was cooking. Sort of like a cinnamon beefy smell, but better. It smelled good.

And it tastes good too. A little spicy kick in the end. David tried it. He doesn't eat beans and this is a very bean soup. So he just tasted the meat. And we ate it with naan bread. He tried that too. Carolynn and Catherine gobbled it right up. It was super cheap to make. Dried beans are cheap. A cheap cut of beef and some herbs and you are all set.

We might have to do this one again.