Soup Cart · Ramadan Staple

Harira (Tomato, Lentil & Chickpea Soup)

Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

At Ramadan, the meal that breaks the fast often starts with the same trio: a bowl of harira, dates, and chebakia, a sesame-and-honey fried pastry.

Harira is a thick, tomato-red soup simmered with lentils, chickpeas, tender shreds of meat, and a handful of vermicelli or rice, thickened with a flour-and-water paste called tadouira. Street stalls keep a pot bubbling all day, ladling bowls into paper cups or bowls alongside a wedge of lemon, dates, and hard-boiled egg.

Why it's made this way: The soup's name comes from the Arabic word for silk, a nod to the smooth, glossy texture the flour thickener gives it — and its central role in breaking the Ramadan fast has made it one of the most-cooked dishes in the country, even outside the holy month.