Hajars Harcha Recipes

Steps:

• Place the semolinas, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Use your fingertips and work in the softened butter. Gradually add approximately 1/4 cup water to make a firm dough. Knead it just until it comes together into a dough.
• NB: You can use cornmeal for this should you not be able to find the proper semolinas with okay results. You may need to add a bit of liquid though.
• Roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch thickness. Cut into rounds. I make mine failry large though they can be made any size from two inches round upwards. Mine are probably three to three and a half inches around. Roll the trimmings again and continue to cut until all of the dough has been used.
• Brush a large (non-stick) skillet with softened butter and put onto medium heat. When the pan is hot, add as many rounds as wilt fit with a bit of space between them. Cook for 1 to 3 minutes on each side. You don't want them to color much, just to become firm and very lightly browned. You can serve these hot, warm or room temperature though are always best eaten the day of making. Serve with butter and your choice of honey, sugar, powdered sugar, cinnamon but always serve with butter. Cooking time listed is to cook the entire batch if small ones are made.
• See the African Forum for my column on breads and my regular columns; Hajar's Morocco for Foodies.

Steps:

• Rinse and pick over fava beans if you can't get these then use dried broad/lima/butter beans and chickpeas. Soak overnight in water to cover. Quick soak method; place beans in large soup pot and add 2 litres hot water. Bring water to a rolling boil for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and soak beans for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Squeeze each fava bean and chickpea between your thumb and first two fingers to remove skins. Set aside.
• In large soup pot over medium heat, cook the onions and meat (chicken can be used as well as beef or no meat at all though NEVER pork) stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and translucent.
• Add turmeric, ginger, paprika and 2 litres water. Cover and bring to rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, add fava beans, chickpeas and cook, covered, until beans are tender. 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on your beans.
• Finely chop together tomatoes, parsley and cilantro. Add this mixture along with the tomato paste, the lentils, pepper, juice of the lemon and drop in 1/2 of the squeezed lemon and salt to taste. Cover and cook until lentils are tender 20 to 25 minutes.
• Bring back to the boil and make a fairly thick slurry (flour and water) with the 1/2 cup of flour. Add this to the boiling soup stirring very briskly to avoid lumps. Boil one minute stirring constantly. Add nutmeg and caraway. Bring the soup to medium heat, you just want a nice slow bubbling.
• Add pasta (orzo or small soup pasta can be used as well though I always prefer vermicelli) and cook until soft. Taste and add salt to taste and adjust pepper. When soup is heated through, ladle harira into individual soup bowls. Serve immediately with lemon wedges, Moroccan flat bread ("My Rough Khoubz works well) or crusty french baguette. This soup should be velvety, not overly thick.
• Prep time does not include soaking the beans.
• NB: Harira is eaten all year, not only at Ramadan. In Morocco the nutmeg is ground to a powder which is darker and very pungent. If you cannot find or do your nutmeg this way, then I recommend that you purchase the freshest nutmeg that you can find.

Steps:

• In a skillet or heavy bottomed saucepan place the oil, onions, garlic, parsley, coriander, salt and pepper. *Then* turn your burner or flame to low and saute until soft and translucent with no browning at all, stirring occasionally. Add paprika and allow to blend over heat for 1 minute.
• Add grated tomato, stir to blend.
• Turn heat up to med and add tomato paste. Stir and blend with other ingredients for 30 seconds. Add water and stir well. Add lemon juice to suit.
• Turn heat to med-high and bring to a bubble adding more water to reach your desired consistency. Here is personal choice time. Acceptable sauce tomatish can run from nearly "chicken broth" thin to as thick as canned tomato sauce and just a bit thicker. I like mine on the thicker end of the scale though sauce tomatish is never so thick that it doesn't slide nicely from the spoon.

Steps:

• If you cannot find turnips use kholrabi or other similar firm vegetable, even cabbage in chunks! You can also simply omit it. We use what we have not necessarily what we need here in Morocco. Just do not use rutabegas/swede! Most of we Moroccan home cooks use the 1 teaspoons of good turmeric instead of the saffron but you must use one or the other as this is mainly for color.
• Peel and cut the vegetables into little pieces(except for tomatoes), put them inside a stew pot ,add the meat cut in little pieces plus the vegetables with parsley,crushed onion (grated or very finely minced),oil salt, pepper and saffron. Add 2 ltres of water, put the pot on until boiling.
• Fold the parsley into a bundle/packet and tie with a stem or kitchen string.
• Remove the tomato cores, wash them and plunge them for 30 seconds into boiling water before peeling them, crush the pulp with a fork in a bowl or on a plate, put the tomatoes in the pot and mix. Cover and leave it cook on a medium fire for 60 minutes.
• 10 minutes before serving, throw vermecilli in rain (scatter) , cover 3/4 and leave it to cook. Serve as soon as it is cooked. Pasta is done. Please do not cook your Moroccan dishes with pasta al dente; al just isn't to be found. We think that he left for America! Also, here someone always eats the parsley bundle.

Steps:

• The marinade needs to be a smooth paste.Put the 1st 6 ingredients, EXCEPT chicken, into a blender with a splash of water and puree.
• Place sliced chicken in a bowl and spread the marinade over, coating each piece. Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes, though you can leave it longer or even overnight is best.
• When you're ready to cook the dish, put a large pot, preferably heavy bottomed, over a medium heat. Add the oil. When it's hot stir in the cinnamon and cardamom for a few seconds.
• Add onion and cook for 5 minutes until it starts to soften. It will turn brown from the cinnamon.
• Add cumin and coriander, then gradually add the yoghurt, stirring all the time.
• Add the tomato paste and mix in well, reduce the heat.
• Put the chicken and its marinade into the pan and cook for about 5 minutes.
• Pour the water into the pan and still in the garam masala if you have any. I have made this without it and it is so flavorful that I didn't really miss it.
• Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes or so until the sauce has reduced to a thick, spoon able consistency. Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice and serve.
• I serve this with naan bread, mango, peach or apricot chutney, and rice flavored with cooked onions. You want a fairly plain rice as the dish is so flavorful a strongly seasoned rice would mask the wonderful flavors of the dish.
• Servings being difficult to judge as a serving is different to everyone. So I am listing this as 4 servings for hearty appetites. Cooking does not include marinating time. Boneless thighs work well for this too; just cut into fairly wide strips.

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole over a medium heat. Add the meat, onion and spices with 1½ tsp salt. Leave for 5-10 mins to lightly brown the meat, stirring occasionally. Add the rest of the ingredients except the lentils, cornflour, coriander and lemon wedges. Add 1 litre of boiling water, bring to the boil, cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Leave to simmer for 1 hr.
• Add the lentils to the casserole, cover with a lid and cook for a further 20 mins. When the chickpeas, meat and lentils are cooked, mix the cornflour in a small bowl with 3 tbsp water, and stir until smooth. Stir the cornflour mixture into the casserole. Simmer for 5 mins until the harira thickens and takes on a velvety texture.
• Scatter over the coriander, then serve hot with lemon wedges on the side for squeezing over.