Chorba Soup - Tunisian Meat Soup

Recipe name: Chorba

Subtitle: soup

Culture: Tunisia

Preparation time: 2 hours 55 minutes.

Recipe story:

This is a delicious Tunisian meat soup. This is an absolute staple on every Tunisian dinner table on the 30 nights of Ramadan. This dish is water based and can serves two purpose at the same time, for hunger and for quenching of thirst.

Ingredients:

· ¾ lb lamb, cut into pounds

· 2 scallions

· 2 garlic cloves

· 1 bunch of chopped cilantro

· 1 stalk celery with leaves

· 3 tomatoes

· ½ cup of chickpeas (soaked overnight)

· 1 teaspoon of paprika and or chili powder

· ½ teaspoon of cinnamon

· 1 teaspoon of ground coriander

· ½ teaspoon of ground ginger

· 1 tablespoon of dried mint

· 2 tablespoon of tomato paste

· Salt and pepper

· 1 cup freekeh rinsed and drained.

· 3 tablespoon of olive oil

· 8 cups of water

Direction:

1. In a pressure cooker, fry the meat till brown in olive oil.

2. Add the garlic, scallions, tomatoes and celery to meat. Add half the cilantro leaves and tomato paste. Add chickpeas, stir and sauté over low heat covered for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the spices, salt, bay leaf, mint and hot water. Increase heat to bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium.

4. Lock the pressure cooker and cook on medium heat for 1 hour.

5. Open the pressure cooker and check the amount of boiling liquid. Add a little boiling water if necessary.

6. Add freekeh into the pan and cook for 10 to 15 minutes over low heat, stirring regularly to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

7. Turn off the heat and add remaining cilantro.