🇩🇿 Algeria and 🇹🇳 Tunisia · also Tunisia
Chorba frikAlgerian green wheat soup
Algerian and Tunisian soup of lamb in a tomato broth with cracked green wheat (frik), chickpeas, coriander and celery, the staple of the Ramadan fast-breaking table.
Origin and history
Frik, wheat gathered while still green and then dried, is a rural preservation technique of the Maghreb and the eastern Mediterranean that let families keep part of the harvest. In Algerian cooking it became the defining ingredient of the chorba, the soup of the Ramadan table. Algerian and Tunisian sources describe it as the same dish under the same name.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 30 min
- Hands-on
- 30 min
Ingredients
- 400 g14 oz lamb on the bone, shoulder or neck, in pieces; boneless is fine but adds less flavour
- 2 tbsp oil (or smen)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped, with leaves
- 3 ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste (concentré de tomate)
- 100 g1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, or 1 cup canned, drained
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp ras el hanout, or a pinch of cinnamon and black pepper
- 120 g2/3 cup frik (cracked green wheat), rinsed; fine or medium cracked
- 1.5 l6 1/3 cups hot water
- 1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped; parsley may join it
- salt and black pepper; lemon wedges, to taste and to serve
Method
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1. Brown the lamb in the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes.
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2. Add the onion and celery and cook until soft and translucent, 5 minutes.
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3. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes, until the colour darkens.
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4. Stir in the paprika, ras el hanout, salt, pepper, the drained chickpeas and a handful of the coriander.
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5. Pour in the hot water, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook, covered, for about 45 minutes, until the chickpeas and the meat are tender.
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6. Rinse the frik, then add it to the pot. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often so it does not stick, until the grains are soft but still have a little bite. Add hot water if the soup is too thick; it should be loose but hearty.
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7. Take the pot off the heat, stir in the remaining fresh coriander and rest for 5 minutes so the frik soaks up the broth.
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8. Serve in bowls with lemon wedges.
Notes
- Frik is wheat harvested green, then roasted or smoked and cracked, which gives the soup its slight smoky taste. It is not bulgur and should not be replaced with it, though cracked wheat is the nearest substitute; add it late, or it turns to paste.
- In Algeria the soup is called chorba frik in the west (Oran, Tlemcen) and djari in the east (Constantine, Annaba, Skikda). It is the soup of the Ramadan fast-breaking table (iftar), served with bourek and dates.
- In Tunisia, the chorba tchicha is the cracked-barley equivalent; Tunisian chorba frik is much the same as the Algerian.
- When frik is unavailable, many households make the same soup with vermicelli or small pasta; they call that a different chorba.
- Chicken can replace the lamb; a pinch of dried mint is a common finish. Related: Libyan sharba (orzo and dried mint) and Moroccan harira.
Adapted from Chorba frik, Algérie Nomades, Soupe de blé concassé, chorba frik, Tunisie Numérique, and Saveurs d'Algérie: la chorba, Le Petit Journal Alger.
At the festivals
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