Harira is the soup that breaks the fast during Ramadan. When the sunset call to prayer sounds, Moroccan tables are set with steaming bowls of it alongside dates, hard boiled eggs and honeyed pastries, and the same soup warms ordinary winter evenings all year round. It is built on tomatoes, lentils and chickpeas, fragrant with cilantro, parsley, celery, ginger and cinnamon, with a little lamb for depth.

The name is usually traced to the Arabic word for silk, and the texture explains why. At the end of cooking, a simple paste of flour and water called tadouira is stirred in, turning a brothy soup into something smooth and gently thick. It is a whole meal in a bowl and easily feeds a crowd, which makes it a fine thing to have bubbling on the stove through a long race.

The soup

Ingredients

• 8 oz (225 g) boneless lamb shoulder or beef chuck
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 celery stalks with their leaves
• 1 cup fresh cilantro and flat leaf parsley, mixed
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil
• 1 tablespoon smen or butter
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons fine salt
• 1 can (28 oz, 800 g) crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup (100 g) brown or green lentils
• 1 can (15 oz, 425 g) chickpeas
• 8 cups (2 liters) water
• 1/3 cup (40 g) vermicelli

The tadouira thickener

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (60 g) all purpose flour
• 1 cup (240 ml) cold water
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

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