Thick chickpea and meat soup - hareera (morocco)

12 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
¼ pounds Chickpeas; soaked overnight
½ cup Butter
2 cups Chopped onion; divided
Salt and pepper
½ pounds Lamb or beef bones
1 pinch Cinnamon
1 pinch Saffron
3 quarts Water
½ cup Finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 cups Tomato juice
1 cup Rice; rinsed
3 tablespoons Flour
½ cup Finely chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup Lemon juice; optional

Directions

Split the chickpeas and remove the skins. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add 1 cup of the onions, salt and pepper. Saute over medium heat until the onions turn light brown. Cut the meat from the bones and dice it. Stir the diced meat and the bones into tne pan and saute further until the meat turns light brown. Add the remaining cup of onions the chickpeas, the cinnamon, the saffron, and 1 quart of the water, and cook until the chickpeas are done. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the coriander leaves and cook for a further 5 minutes. Set aside.

In another pot, boil the remaining two quarts of water, the tomato juice, salt, and pepper for 5 minutes. Add the rice and return to a boil; then lower the heat and simmer until the rice is done.

Mix the flour with 3 tablespoons cold water to make a thin paste. Slowly stir the paste into the rice mixture. Add the rest of the coriander and parsley. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Combine the meat and rice mixtures and serve.

Note: 1 teaspoon lemon juice may be added to each individual serving if desired.

*[REF Hanneman: FROM THE LANDS OF FIGS AND OLIVES, Habeeb Salloum and James Peters. 1995. Paperback 1997: Interlink Books. ISBN 1566561590 -- HEREERA is on of Morocco's oldest and by far the most popular of its soups. It plays an important role in Ramadan, Islam's annual fast which lasts 28 days. The end of each day's fast is announced by the firing of a cannon. At that instant, the first tates of food is always a mouthful of hareera. ] Recipe by: FROM THE LANDS OF FIGS AND OLIVES* By Kitpath <phannema@...> on Jun 13, 1998, converted by MM_Buster v2.0l.

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