Vegan Moroccan Harira Soup

This recipe is the first recipe I ever wrote out. It is my favourite soup and something I really love eating when it is done well. All that being said, this recipe is still a work in progress. I'm not 100% satisfied with this recipe, I'm still trying to dial in the spice blend, but I'll keep updating and tweaking it here until I am.

Ingredients

Soup Base

• 1 Onion - diced
• 1 Carrot - diced
• 1 Stick of Celery - diced
• 2 Cloves of Garlic - minced (or 3tsp of Jarlic)
• 2tbsp Tomato Paste

To Finish

• 1 Lemon (Juice and Zest)
• 1/2 bunch Fresh Corriander, chopped
• Greek Yoghurt

Toppings

• 1 Sweet Potato - cut into 2cm pieces
• 2 cans Chickpeas
• 2 cans Lentils
• 1/2 cup Quinoa (or Brown rice if easier, or even rice vermincelli)

Soup Stock

• 1 can Diced Tomatos
• 700ml Jar of Passata
• 1 Vegan Stock Cube (Beef style is ideal)

Spices

• 2 tsp Cumin seeds - ground
• 2 tsp Coriander Seeds - ground
• 1/2 tsp Cloves - ground
• 1 tsp Dried Ginger
• 1/2 tsp Tumeric
• 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
• 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp Kashmiri Chili Poweder
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 3 Dried Bay Leaves

Method

1. Fry the base

   Fry onion in oil until translucent. Then add the carrot and celery. Once they are looking good add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.

2. Add sweet potato and continue frying

3. Add the spices, then the tomato paste

   Add the cumin, corriander and cloves first, fry for a minute, then all the other powdered spices (except Bay Leaves and Cinnamon). After a hot minute add the tomato paste and stir it in and fry it off a little bit.

4. Add the chickpeas and lentils

   Add one of the chickpeas juice and all, but strain the other three tins. Stir it all together.

5. Add Tin Tomatos and Passata

6. Add some water, stock cube, cinnamon and bay leaves

   Judge the water by look, it might be really juicy already. You will only need about 500ml, if you want it thicker add less. Add the quinoa/rice now.

7. Simmer for 45 mins

   Stir semi-regularly. The quinoa/rice should be rather overcooked by now, which is what we want.

8. Cut the heat, add lemon juice and coriander leaves

9. Serve with a dollop of Greek Yoghurt