Assalamo alykum. Proceeding with Ramadan An event to share today we are travelling to Spain with  our guest  Aisha from La Cocina de Aisha meaning The Kitchen of Aisha. Masha allah such a beautiful name. She is a reverted  muslimah and though she has no memories of Ramadan, she is sharing a special soup Harira  which her family consumes a lot during Ramadan. 

My greetings to the readers of Gheza-eShiriin in this festive season. I am Aisha, from La cocina de Aisha. I’m spanish, but now living in Holland. We moved to this country 8 years ago and despite it has been hard (and still it is) I like the country.

 I’m a mum of a 5 years old lovely daughter and I try to learn as much as I can about cooking healthy and home made food, to teach her one day. That was a lack in my childhood and I don’t want that my daughter has that lack too. I don’t have Ramadan  memories on my mind cause I’m not a born muslim. I reverted to Islam in 2005, when I was 35 years old. So no nice family memories about sharing iftar and Eid. When I started to fast I didn’t use to cook something special. Anything fitted me, cause I was alone. But when I got married in 2007 I learnt a little bit, despite I haven’t shared a family Ramadan either… We were just my husband and me and now my lil girl.

If there’s something that I cooked constantly in Ramadan is a soup called harira. My recipe is the one that my husband taught me, but this kind of soup has as many recipes as houses where it is cooked. I hope you like it!

Harira 

I use a 5 l pan, that way I don’t have to cook harira every day. You can freeze by portions.

Ingredients:

250 gr meat (lamb, beef, or chicken)

1 big onion

5 big carrots

400 gr tomatoe (I use canned tomatoe)

2 big potatoes

2 bunches of fresh coriander (separated)

1 Tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 Tablespoons ras-el-hanout

3 Tablespoons virgin olive oil

4 handfuls of chickpeas soaked in water

Water
Directions:

1. We put a big pan (mine is 5 liters) on the fire with the oil and add the meat. We cook till it gets brown.
2. The we add chopped onion, carrots and potatoes cut in big pieces and 1 bunch of coriander. We cook 2 minutes and then we add salt, spices and water till the top of your pan.
3. We cook at high fire till it starts to boil. Then we low the fire to the minimun and leave for 2 hours.
4. We put on the fire another pan with water and chickpeas and let boil till they are cooked. When ready, keep them aside.
5. When harira is cooked, take out from pan the meat (take care cause its’s really hot) and leave the meat aside till you can touch it without getting burnt. Then shred it.
6. Meanwhile puree your harira with a hand blender. When done, add chickpeas and shredded meat and put it on the fire for 20 minutes more.
7. When ready chop the remaining bunch of coriander and spread it over your harira.

To know more about Aisha, you can connect with her : Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest