Been a lot sick lately blah blah blah. Made a lot of soup blah blah. Can’t have too much soup blah blah blah. Here’s another blah blah blah.

This is my take on a Moroccan chickpea, lentil and tomato soup called Harira. Which sounds a little bit like hurry up. Which you cannot do when you make this, and most other soups out there. Many many things in cooking are interchangable and swappable, but time on the flame is the thing that pulls all of those aspects together, introduces them to each other, helps them get to know each other, and finally, lets them borrow the spare bed to consumate their relationship. Pantience can often separate average from good, and good from exceptional.

I like this soup a lot. I certainly find it to be a lot more rockin’ (get it MORE ROCKIN’? I stole that from a wine bar at Splendour in the Grass a couple of years back) then a lot of other soups out there.

It ticks all of the boxes. Not because it has a hand and can hold a pencil. That would just be stupid. No, it ticks all of the boxes because it’s a kickass sucker punch of flavour straight to your mother effing dome homeboy, and it is also healthy and easy (just like drunken 19 year old hippy chicks), and can also be served as part of a banquette to impress the shit out of a hot bird who you are… well… trying to impress the shit out of.

This soup is more then happy to be presented sans lamb, or any other meat product. Alternately, if you are not into lamb and would like a different option chicken or fish both work well and goat goes bloody champion. If you use fish you will have to put it in towards the end of the cooking time so it doesn’t turn to mush.

LAMB, CHICKPEA & LENTIL SOUP (for a hoard of hungry arabs who have just finished a camel race through the sand dunes)
600-700g lamb shoulder or a couple of lamb shanks
3 tins chickpeas
1 cup dried red lentils (I had to use du puy lentils today and they worked just fine. A totally different experience though)
2 brown onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbls grated ginger
1 cinnamon stick
2 Tbls morrocan spice
1 preserved lemon quarter, fine dice
2lt veg stock or water
2x 400g tins diced tomato

• Season your meat and get a bit of colour on it. Remove from pot.
• Sweat off your onions, carrot and garlic until starting to soften up, now add dry spices and cook out for another minute
• Now put everything except the lentils* into the pot and cook for 1.5 hours on a very low heat.
• Now its time to get the lentils in there, and simmer for another 30 minutes or until the lentils are cooked
• Take the lamb out and shred it with two forks

• While the lamb is out of the pot pulse it three or four times with a stick wizz, just to thicken it up a little bit
• Return lamb to soup and get that shit on the table

• Serve with yoghurt, chopped parsley and mint, and heaps of fresh bread

*why no lentils yet? The lentils break down and catch on the bottom very easily causing the soup to burn.