Harira
Morocco (pan-Maghreb; Ramadan soup tradition)
Harira is Morocco's most important soup — a thick, sustaining broth of tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, lamb, saffron, ginger, cinnamon, coriander, parsley, and a tedouira (flour-and-water slurry) thickener, served at sunset to break the Ramadan fast every evening and as a daily restorative throughout the year. The soup is Morocco's answer to minestrone — substantial, complex, and nourishing — but the tedouira thickener gives harira a body distinct from any other soup tradition: the flour slurry is whisked into the hot soup at the end of cooking, creating a texture between a thin porridge and a broth. Harira is garnished with lemon juice and fresh herbs; dates and chebekia (honey-soaked fried pastry) are the traditional Ramadan accompaniments.