Exploring Street Food: Harira

I'm going to be sharing street food recipes over the next few weeks. It's a fascinating aspect of many cultures where people are used to getting snacks or whole meals from street vendors. Hopefully (although perhaps not always) the food is fresh and local.This really isn't something that happens in my own city. Unlike other countries where vendors carry their kitchens on their bikes or set up unique ways to serve their customers, in Toronto you can get a sausage or a hot dog and a soft drink from a cart and that's pretty much it. Street food is usually quick to cook and extremely flavourful which is always a plus in my kitchen.

As regular readers know, I am a huge advocate of eating local, seasonal food. The one time I buy things from foreign places is during the winter, when the harvest is finished here, and I indulge occasionally in ingredients that don't grow here.

I'm not quite sure why, but I seem to be making a lot of Moroccan style food lately. Maybe it's the gray days here in Toronto that are making me think of sunnier climes and intense flavours. In any case, we've had some good Moroccan food today. Moroccan flat bread this morning and Harira for lunch. This is an extremely easy soup to make because you just dump everything into the pot and let it cook. The recipe calls for chickpeas or lentils, and I had lentils in my pantry, so that's what I used. My soup was a bit thinner than it should be probably, because I used canned tomatoes, and I didn't have any tomato paste, but other than that, I had all the ingredients on hand.

source

I got this recipe from a cookbook called Street Food From Around the World by Troth Wells, which tells me that Harira is Morocco's national soup and is eaten with fresh dates.

Harira

1 cup chickpeas or lentils, cooked
6 shallots, left whole, or use 2 onions, chopped
1/2 tsp saffron strands, soaked
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ginger
6 tomatoes chopped
6 cups water or stock
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 - 3 tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 -3 tbsp parsley
1 - 2 tbsp flour
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

1. Start by putting the cooked chickpeas or lentils in a large saucepan. Add the shallots or onions, saffron, turmeric, ginger, tomatoes, and tomato paste, as well as half the parsley and cilantro. Pour in the water or stock.

2. Bring to the boil, covered, and simmer gently to let the ingredients combine.

3. After 15 minute or so, remove a little of the cooking liquid and mix it in a small bowl containing the flour, to make a smooth paste. Return this to the stewpot and stir well to mix it in. Pour in lemon juice to taste and season.

4. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes, adjust seasonings, and serve with the remaining parsley and cilantro on top. Servewith fresh dates, if possible.