"Harira" Traditional Moroccan Soup

My host mom, Behia, cooking in the tiny kitchen.

     A favorite memory (or memories) from Morocco: Sitting in my host family's small apartment living room around 10 p.m, snuggled in a blanket watching some Arabic soap opera or an American chick flick in English with Arabic subtitles, eating hot harira soup. "Harira" is traditional Moroccan soup with spices and ingredients typical of North Africa. This soup was so delicious, especially when made by my wonderful host mother, and it always cured my homesickness. I felt so loved and cared for in those moments; utterly content...a true sign of hospitality. They could not speak or understand English, and I could only speak a few words of Moroccan Arabic (we were taking Arabic classes for those 6 weeks, but still my Arabic was faltering), but I tried to convey to her with the few words I knew how much I loved and appreciated her (and the rest of the family's) incredible hospitality that was particularly shown through food. 

      Here is the recipe for harira. My EMU roommate, Ana, and I asked our host mother for the recipe for harira at the end of our stay in Fez--while we managed to figure out what most of the ingredients were, because of the language barrier we could not get the measurements. So this is sort of my version:

Harira: Moroccan Soup

A variation of harira (it just has a different type of noodle, Vermicelli).

- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped (2 cups)
- 1 can diced tomatoes (15 oz. can), drained, liquid reserved
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 small onion, diced and sauteed
- 1 clove of garlic, minced, maybe two if you prefer garlicy-ness 
-1/2 t. ground ginger
- 1 cinnamon stick

-1/2 t. saffron (use Goya brand in grocery store)

- 2 cups of low-sodium vegetable broth

-3 cups water

-pinch of salt and pepper

- 1 can (15 oz.) or two cups of chickpeas
-1/2 cup vermicelli
-a cup or two of cous cous (can use Moroccan cous cous or Israeli cous cous if you prefer--Israeli is larger)

Tadouria:
-2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
-¼ cup chopped cilantro
-2 Tbs. lemon juice
-1 Tbs. tomato paste

-Lemon wedges, for garnish

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onion, parsley, cilantro, garlic, saffron, ginger, and cinnamon; sauté 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Stir in tomatoes, and sauté 5 minutes more.
2. Stir in broth, chickpeas, reserved tomato liquid, and 3 cups water. Season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To make Tadouira: Whisk flour with 1 cup water in bowl. Whisk in cilantro, lemon juice, and tomato paste. Stir Tadouira and vermicelli into Harira, and cook 3 minutes, or until noodles are soft. Serve with lemon wedges.

This is on our last night (from left--Ana -my EMU roommate, my host mom Behia behind her, me, our neighbor Amel and her daughter Miriam.)

Recipe submitted by Alli Eanes

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Masala Chai from India

A friend and I share Chai together!

"Every time is tea time." This is one of the five basic rules about Indian culture. And you experience it everywhere. Chai wallah's roam the streets and train cars and even among the boats of Ma Ganga in Varanasi with their steaming tea pots and carrier filled with little cups, which they will fill for you for about five rupees. And with a filled steaming cup, you remain in company together so when you finish the chai you can return the cup. It's a perfect system of reusing materials and honoring the sacredness of food and partaking of it in the company of others.

Some of my first memories of India involve gathering around chai and savoring it's smooth taste. I remember drinking chai after my first rickshaw ride, a bit in disbelief at the whole experience. And in Kolkata, I remember waking up in the early morning to a knock on our door and hearing a monotonous voice saying Chai, and we'd open our room door to receive two small dixie cups (one for each of us) of chai, which we'd sip in bed, cuddled under the blankets. Bed chai. Families and villages would welcome us with with chai and biscuits (and sometimes little bananas too). In India the taste of chai became the taste of hospitality.

Masala Chai is especially a favorite among Indians-it is spiced Assam that is claimed to have many health benefits. While in South India, I took a cooking class and experimented with making masala chai. See, the thing about Indian culture is there is no such thing as a strict recipe. You add a little bit of this and a generous heap of that. It's about the scents of the spices you like and the flavors you are looking for. So, that being said, I learned how to make chai from watching other Indians and adding some twists of my own, according to the flavors of spices I like. This recipe is a guide and you should feel free to be creative with it too. As our cooking teacher Gautham told us "The kitchen is your laboratory and you are the one making wonderful creations and discoveries. It is your place to experiment."

So here is a guideline for YOU to be creative with...

Masala Chai

In a sauce pan heat to boiling...
1 c milk
1 c water
1 1/2 t assam tea (loose leaf-or any type of black tea)
2 t brown sugar (more if you like it sweeter)

Once boiling turn to low heat and simmer for 3-5 min and add

-approx 0.5-1 inch fresh ginger (peel outer layer off)
-1 t cinnamon
-1/4 t cardamom
-a few grinds of black pepper (maybe like 0.25-0.5 teaspoons)
-a few whole cloves (or ground cloves)
-a few fennel seeds

Strain out tea leaves and ginger root before serving. Goes well with good company and conversation. Biscuits add a nice touch too (but are not necessary. fun fact: due to the British influence in India, any kind of British biscuit will give you a rather authentic experience as we commonly had a shortbread type biscuit with our chai). 

Thanks, Tessa Gerberich for this authentic Chai recipe!