This soup is a great starter, light snack, or a lunch served with some khobz bread. Harira is traditionally eaten during Ramadan, but is as much enjoyed the whole year around. Make your own Harira at home with this recipe!
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
🥘 Main ingredients
- carrots
- onion
- garlic
- turnip
- celery stalk
- ground cumin
- ground coriander
- paprika powder
- freshly ground pepper
- turmeric
- ginger powder
- vegetable stock
- tomatoes, can or fresh
- lentils, can or pre-cooked
- chickpeas, can or pre-cooked
- harissa
- lemon
- coriander
- parsley
- olive oil
🍵 What is harira?
Harira is a traditional Moroccan soup. Depending on location, family traditions and personal likings, it is made and enjoyed in many different variations. Normally this dish would contain some meat and eggs. But this recipe is my own vegan rendition of this very popular soup.
Moroccan harira is a hearty and zesty soup, with tomatoes, chickpeas en lentils. If you prefer to use dried chickpeas and lentils (which is the more authentic way), then make sure you are well prepared and soak the chickpeas overnight. As well as allowing yourself the extra time for the cooking process (2 - 3 hours).
💭 Adjustment tips
This dish is very easy to adjust. For example if you are having this dish as a main dish, you can add some rice or broken vermicelli as a filler. This is a very commonly added ingredient in Morocco.
Furthermore you can also adjust the spice mix to your own liking. Traditionally ginger, pepper and saffron (if you can get it) are the main spices. But as said before it is very common that every family has a slightly different version of harira depending on their family tradition, and personal likings.
However these main ingredients shouldn't be left out, if you still want to call it a harira; Herbs (coriander and parsley), chickpeas, lentils, tomatoes, onion, spice mix (ground ginger, turmeric, pepper)
If you are interested in some of my other Moroccan inspired recipes, check out;
This vegan harira recipe is part of my 'Travels of taste' post. Travel the world with the use of our senses and imaginations. Get ready to walk around the hustle & bustle of the souks, and discover the Moroccon flavours, check out my full Moroccan 'travels of taste' post; >>> Morocco - the flavours of the souks
So, go ahead, and take a voyage through the souks of Morocco, with this piping hot, hearty, spicy and zesty vegan harira soup. Add @haricoco1 if you use this recipe, I love to see your harira creations.
📋 Recipe
Ingredients
- Recipe serves 3 larger or 4 small plates;
- 2 carrots chopped
- ½ onion chopped
- 1 garlic finely chopped
- 1 turnip chopped in even pieces
- ½ celery stalk finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon paprika powder
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder
- 500 ml 2 cups vegetable stock
- 200 g 1 Cup chopped tomatoes, can or fresh
- 150 g 2 cups lentils, can or pre-cooked
- 200 g 1 ¼ cups chickpeas, can or pre-cooked
- 1 teaspoon harissa
- juice of ½ lemon
- small bunch of coriander chopped
- small bunch of parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a heavy based pot
- Sauté the onions with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes, add the garlic for another minute.
- Add the carrot, turnip and celery, and sauté for 3 - 4 minutes.
- Stir in all the spices, and stir well for a minute, so all vegetables are well covered in the spices.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and stir well.
- Pour in the vegetable stock, and bring to a nice low simmer. Leave to simmer (covered) until the vegetables are cooked, but still have a bite (15 - 20 minutes).
- Add the lentils and chickpeas and leave to simmer (uncovered) for another 10 minutes.
- Stir in the chopped herbs (keep a few for decorating)
- Add the Harissa, and the lemon juice, and check the seasoning.
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