Nostalgic

Along with Luqemat and Sambosa, Shorba Hamra or simply "Red Soup" Is defiantly a stable at most

households during the month of Ramadan back home. And like any traditional dish, every house has

its own recipe. You can make it with lamb meat, some use camel meat, others chicken or just diced

vegetables. Other than protein, people have their own carb of choice, oatmeal, cracked wheat, rice

and pasta, Just to name a few. The variations are endless, and each is as hearty and fulfilling as the

other.

I wanted to take the nostalgic route on this one, and recreate my mother’s soup, but unfortunately I

couldn’t find all the ingredients. So I made a few changes here and there, with a promise that it is as

good.

The base for this recipe I took from my mother, who's an amazing cook, and like any other non

professional cooks, she gave me a recipe so vague, I had to make it twice to get the measurements

right. Any ways, I'm going to stop rambling and start the recipe.

Ingredients:
1	Beef stock	1 litter
2	Moghrabieh	1/2 cup
3	Onions	1 medium
4	Tomatoes	3 medium
5	Garlic	2 cloves
6	Tomato paste	1/2 tbs
7	Cinnamon stick	1 stick
8	Dried lime	1 lime
9	Bay leaves	1 leaf
10	Ground turmeric	1/2 tsp
11	Grand coriander	1/2 tsp
12	Ground cumin	1/2 tsp
13	Paprika	1/2 tsp
14	Salt	To taste

Recipe Preparation:

1- Boil some water, add bay leaf, dried lime, cinnamon stick and moghrabieh, and let it cook for 15
minutes.

2- Cut onion, tomatoes into small dices, and mince garlic. In a pot on a medium heat, add two tbs of
oil and onions, let it sweat before adding the garlic.

3- Cook the garlic and onions for 2 minutes before adding the ground spices and salt.

4- Mix well for 30 sec, before adding in the tomatoes.

5- Leave to cook, until tomatoes becomes soft, at this point add in the stock.

6- When the mixture simmers, using a hand held blender, bring it to a smooth soup, add water if needed.

7- Drain moghrabieh, add with spices to the soup and cook for 5 minutes.

8- Garnish with parsley, present and bon appetite!!.

Having had this soup so many times, and having a clear idea of how it should taste, was the biggest
challenge. I kept trying it along the way, and feeling like it needed something more, a huge component
in my opinion was missing. However, Leaving the soup on medium low heat for 45 minutes, with the
dried lime miraculously fixed everything. I asked two friends to try it, and they both went for seconds!!
I would definitely call that a success. However, for my next time, I think I might add a little more
moghrabieh. One more thing, I used the beef consomme we made in our foundation class as my stock,
because I thought it would be a shame to waste it, but I don’t believe the flavor complemented the
components of the dish very much.

This experience has taught me that no matter how simple a dish seems, and how easy your mother
makes look like, you have to put your heart into it, and that will always amp up the flavors, and give the
plate a new depth. I truly hope I take this lesson with me making any dish, and tasting out any recipe in
the future.