Harira soup is a traditional soup that originated in Morocco. It’s a hearty and flavorful soup, known for its rich and warming flavor. Seriously, it’s one of these soups that just makes you feel good through and through. Our Moroccan harira soup, as expected, is full of bold spices — kefta spice blend and harissa in particular — that just delight your taste buds. It’s earthy and spicy, homey, and yet exotic.
The added touch of cayenne pepper brings a little additional heat to the recipe. Feel free to adapt here — remove it completely if you prefer or add more if you love some extra heat. Note, the harissa in the recipe will still provide a mild spiciness to the soup. So, if you’re simply looking for “warming comfort food”, you’ll get that even without the cayenne.
See this recipe being made:
Like this recipe? You’ll love these too:
- Mexican Meatball Soup: Talk about a soup that eats like a meal.
- Spicy Oxtail Stew: Slow-cooked to perfection, rich and meaty.
- Spicy Chicken Soup: Chock-full of vegetables – total comfort food.
Moroccan Harira Soup
Ingredients
- 2 cans whole peeled tomatoes (28-ounce cans), drained and chopped
- 8 cups water
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 1 cup red lentils
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 3 tablespoons harissa
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons cilantro chopped
- 1 tablespoon kefta spice blend
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Plain Greek yogurt and kefta spice blend optional, as garnish
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.
- Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until the onion is soft and translucent (5 to 6 minutes).
- To the pot, add the kefta seasoning, ground cumin, cayenne pepper powder, and salt. Stir to coat the onion and garlic and allow the seasonings to heat (1 to 2 minute).
- Add the tomatoes and cilantro and stir well. Allow the base to simmer over medium for 5 to 7 minutes until slightly thickened.
- Add the lentils, harissa, and water then increase the heat to high. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Allow the soup to simmer over low for 90 minutes until the soup has thickened and the lentils are softened. Stir occasionally.
- Serve once soup reaches its desired consistency. Top with greek yogurt and kefta spice blend (optional).
Kefta seems kind of hard to find/on the pricey side for a spice blend, but also some of the flavors are already present here (cayenne, cumin). Do you think it would be ok to omit?