Moroccan Harira

From David Tanis, A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, page 219 

Tanis says the texture should be "velvety," which means it must be gently simmered for "a minimum of 2 hours."  He also says this tastes even better the next day. 

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil

1 pound boneless lean shoulder of lamb, in ½-inch cubes

2 large onions, finely diced

½ t crumbled saffron

1 t each ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, and pepper

2 t powdered hot red chile

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 C dried peeled fava beans, picked over and washed

1 C red lentils, picked over and rinsed

13 C water

Salt

6 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 C coarsely chopped parsley

1 C coarsely chopped cilantro plus slivered cilantro for garnish

⅓ C all-purpose flour

4 T butter

Lemon wedges 

Directions:

Heat oil in a deep heavy-bottomed soup pot.  Brown the lamb lightly, then add the chopped onion, stir, and brown them.  Add all the spices and the garlic and let them sizzle for a few minutes.  Add the favas, lentils, and 12 cups water and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a bare simmer.  Add 2 t salt and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 ½ hours.

Put the tomatoes, parsley, and cilantro in a blender with a little salt and puree the mixture.  Add the puree to the soup and simmer for another ½ hour or so.

Now puree half the soup and return it to the pot.  Make a slurry with the flour and remaining 1 cup water (stir together until smooth), add to the soup, and simmer for 10 minutes.  Taste and adjust for salt and spice.  Add the butter and stir until melted.  The texture should be quite smooth, neither too thick nor too thin.

Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with slivered cilantro.  Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice into each bowl, and pass a plate of lemon wedges.  Tanis suggests serving this soup with oranges and dates on the side.

Cassie's Version

This was terrific, and perfect as the weather cools down again.  I have to admit that I did not follow the time directives, hurrying this along because I was hungry and I just didn't see the point of the additional cooking time - it looked and tasted pretty velvety to me!  I probably cooked everything together (before adding the tomatoes) for a little over an hour, and then for another 15 minutes with the tomato puree and the flour.  The favas and the lentils had pretty much fallen apart after an hour.

Another reason that I didn't want to take the extra cooking time was because I had already spent about 20 minutes peeling the favas that I soaked all day.  I bought whole favas, and this recipe specifically calls for shelled beans.  There is apparently some debate over whether they need to be peeled or not - the French and Americans peel them, and it seems that everyone else might not.  But then I remembered that fava beans can be dangerous for some people to eat.  I've eaten them fresh with no problem, but for some reason I connected the danger to the peel, and opted to shell them so that tonight's dinner would not be anyone's last.

I also had to take a bit of extra time fishing out the lamb shoulder chops from the soup, to cut the meat off the bone.  Apparently there is a dearth of lamb in the Boston suburbs - I got what I could, and it was very good, but that too took a bit more work.  Perhaps because of these additional steps, I forgot to add the saffron, which was a shame (though I just threw in a few strands as we were eating).  I stuck to the recipe fairly closely in other respects, reducing the water slightly as I had already soaked the favas, and adding the juice of two whole Meyer lemons at the end along with more salt.

The end result was quite spicy, in a good way, as the Indian chile powder we had on hand is surprisingly potent.  The other spices were lovely in this dish; I particularly like adding cinnamon to savory dishes.  The lamb was such a nice change from other meat soups, and I enjoyed cooking with favas for the first time (despite the peeling!).

Highly recommended!

Ann's Version

There was no boneless lamb to be found at the grocery other than a 6 pound boneless leg.  Las Cruces stores are heavy on the pork and beef but the lamb selections are rather paltry.  Instead I used 2 pounds of bone-in shoulder chops that I deboned and cut in small pieces.  The bones weren't very substantial so I used quite a bit more meat in the soup than called for in the recipe.  The spices in this are wonderful and the only change I made was using 4 tsp. of powdered gualillo chile (a very flavorful type with medium heat) instead of the 2 tsp. of hot chile.  It made for perfect heat.  The only fava beans I could find were canned, so I used a 12 oz. can, drained and rinsed. 

When I got to the point where the soup needed to simmer for 1-1/2 hrs. I realized I had 3 oboe lessons to give starting in 15 min. so I put the soup on a really low simmer and ended up leaving it for 4 hours!  Actually not a bad technique it turned out since the soup would be pureed anyway.  The meat was extremely tender and the fava beans still held their shape but were nice and soft.  I pureed 8 small tomatoes with parsley and cilantro I had growing outside (yay for warmer weather!) and after adding that to the soup simmered it for only 10 or 15 min. more.  Instead of pureeing half the soup I half-pureed the whole pot with an immersion blender (one of the best appliances ever!), added the flour paste and simmered for another 10 min.  The added butter at the end is a nice touch, both taste and texture-wise.

A tablespoon or so of chopped cilantro and 2 lemon wedges squeezed in made this soup perfect.  I ate it with some very fresh sourdough bread and a tangelo (would have also eaten a few dates alongside but the last date had disappeared from the pantry that morning).  I don't think I've ever made a soup with lamb before or a soup that had pureed meat.  This may be my favorite soup so far and I found myself craving it while away from home.  Luckily it makes a large batch and I have 3 more quarts in the freezer!