’The Bush Cook’
It has come to the attention of the Bush Cook that many very tasty soups were served at the Gardening Extravaganza during the Jumpers and Jazz festival last month.
After much detective work some of the recipes has been found and purloined.
Quick Moroccan Lamb Soup (Harira) is just one of these.
Ingredients:
1 tab olive oil, 1 finely chopped brown onion, 2 crushed garlic cloves.
2 teaspoons each ground turmeric, sweet paprika and ground cumin and 1 teaspoon ground ginger.
500 gms lamb mince.
3 cups beef stock
1 400gm can each of chick peas and brown lentils, drained and rinsed.
1 400 gm tin of crushed tomatoes.
Method:
Fry onion and garlic in olive oil until just starting to brown.
Add all spices and stir for about 30 seconds until fragrant.
Add the mince and stir with a wooden spoon to break up lumps until cooked.
Add the stock, plus 1 extra cup water, lentils, chick peas and tomatoes.
Simmer for about 15 mins to reduce a little and then serve.
To make this really look spectacular, steam and peel about 1 cup of frozen broad beans and stir these in just before serving. The bright green really adds a great contrast. Also a dollop of natural Greek yoghurt and some torn fresh coriander leaves is an additional garnish that really lifts the look and taste of this wonderfully tasty, filling, healthy soup.
It is good to be fairly heavy handed with the spices so adjust to taste. Also, any paprika will work Smokey paprika is often used if that is what is in the cupboard.
As with most soups, it only gets better if left in the fridge for at least a day to let the flavours develop and then rewarmed.
Serve with crusty bread for a complete meal.
