Harira is a North African soup made with tomatoes, legumes and lots of spice. This hearty, nutritious dish is a staple during Ramadan where it is served at Iftar, the evening meal when Muslims break their daily fast. Jews from Morocco adopted the recipe as a traditional break fast dish after Yom Kippur, and it has become popular in Israel and across the Diaspora.
Recipes for harira vary from family to family, and can be made with lamb, beef or vegetarian, as you’ll find here. This soup is intended to be thick and stew-like. Some cooks thicken their harira with beaten egg, a flour slurry or the addition of red lentils that break down as they simmer. Cinnamon, ginger and turmeric are added for complexity and warming heat. Tomatoes, whether fresh or canned, are essential to harira and offer sweetness and acidity, which pairs perfectly with starchy chickpeas, lentils or fava beans. Noodles like vermicelli are also added to harira for extra heartiness. While there are ample ingredients, this soup is simple to make and it can be prepared on a stovetop, in an Instant Pot or in a slow cooker.
Harira is often served with hard-boiled eggs, bread, dates and dried fruit. It is most often a starter but is filling enough to be a meal in and of itself.
Note: This recipe is best made at least one day in advance of serving, which makes it ideal for preparing a break-fast meal in advance. It will last for up to a week in the fridge, but will thicken in the refrigerator, so you may need to add water when reheating.
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Is there an alternative to harissa paste? Not very popular in my household and hard to find as well in our small town.
You can leave out the harissa if it’s not your thing.
I would never end a fast with spicy food. I think the soup would be great without the harissa and the black pepper.
I think that might depend on whether you come from a Sephardic (“spicy is air”) household! It wouldn’t be my first thought, but it is for my Moroccan boyfriend’s family.
I love all the ingredients in this recipe, except my husband does not like cinnamon in his soup so I will leave it out.
Otherwise a perfect combination
Thank You
This recipe is fantastic, and it gets better each day! I’m on day 3! Just be careful about the amount of harissa paste you use! I misread the recipe and put in 2 Tbs. It made it quite spicy but still excellent.