Harira – lightly spiced lamb and mung bean soup

I knew I’d love this soup from the moment I first saw it. Not too thick but not too thin, it’s a flavourful big bowl of warmth. Invented by the Berbers (nomadic north Africans), harira has been adopted as a traditional breakfast meal during Ramadan. Traditionally it is made with chickpeas and mung beans but I’ve used all mung beans (noticed a theme yet?) because they are better for all Doshas and easier to cook from scratch. It’s not common to mix proteins in Ayurveda, but a small amount of lamb gives the mung beans a rich flavour – you could always use lamb broth for the base instead.

This soup is great for the slowcooker and cheaper cuts of meat – I use middle neck or scrag end of lamb, although the scrag end is not for anyone who doesn’t like fiddling with bones! For a treat, enrich the soup with egg yolks and serve it with a squeeze of lemon juice or lemon wedge, but it’s also delicious without.

Serves 6

200g(l cup) whole mung beans, soaked overnight, or split mung dal

l tbsp ghee

200g lamb neck (middle not best end), roughly chopped into small cubes

1 medium onion, chopped

1 stick of celery, chopped

3 tbsp gram flour

450g tomatoes, skinned and deseeded (see here), chopped

2 tbsp parsley leaves, chopped

1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

5cm (2in) piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped, or 1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cinnamon

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1.75 litres (7 cups) water

TO SERVE (OPTIONAL)

2 egg yolks

juice of 1 lemon, plus extra wedges for serving

handful of coriander leaves, chopped

1 Drain the mung beans, then rinse them under cold water and set aside.

2 Melt the ghee in a large saucepan and fry the lamb, onion and celery for 2–3 minutes, stirring until the lamb is just browned. Add the gram flour, tomatoes and all the herbs and spices. Season well with salt and pepper and cook for about 1 minute, then add the mung beans and the water.

3 Slowly bring to the boil and then leave on a rolling boil for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer very gently for up to 1 hour until the mung beans are very tender. Season with salt and a little bit more pepper. Taste and add more water to reach your desired consistency.

4 To add the egg yolks, beat them with the lemon juice and stir into the simmering soup. Immediately remove from the heat and stir until thickened.

5 pour the soup into warmed serving bowls and serve garnished with coriander and wedges of lemon.

FEELING
VATA

Make sure to add the the egg yolks for extra nourishment.

FEELING
PITTA

You could use dried chickpeas instead of mung beans as a variation.

FEELING
KAPHA

Try dried chickpeas instead of mung beans, add lots of greens, skip the yolks and thin out the stew to keep it light.