Chorba frik

the Ramadan soup of Algeria: green cracked wheat simmered in a lamb and tomato broth until it thickens and smells of smoke

Origin: Algiers & Algeria

From the journey of Wheat.

Frik is wheat harvested green, while the grain is still soft and full of moisture, then set alight so the chaff and the surface burn away whilst the damp kernel inside survives. What is left is rubbed clean and cracked, and it carries a smokiness that nothing else in the store cupboard has. The same product is freekeh in the Levant, and the technique is very old: it appears in Levantine and North African practice as a way of salvaging a crop threatened by weather or raiding before it could ripen, and became a delicacy afterwards. Chorba frik is what Algeria eats to break the fast. Through Ramadan it appears on the table at sunset every single evening across the country, before anything else and often before the dates, and its absence would be remarked upon. The rest of the year it is ordinary weeknight food. The soup is built on a light lamb and tomato broth with chickpeas and a great deal of fresh coriander and mint, and the frik does the thickening, releasing starch as it softens until the whole is somewhere between a soup and a very loose porridge. It should be pourable but not thin. Tunisia and Libya make close versions and the argument between the three is chiefly about the herbs and whether tomato belongs at all: the Tunisian is often built without it and leans on lemon instead.

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 200 g frik or freekeh, cracked, rinsed
  • 500 g lamb shoulder or neck, in small pieces
  • 1 large onion, very finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp olive oil or smen
  • 3 tbsp tomato purée
  • 3 tomatoes, grated or finely chopped
  • 150 g cooked chickpeas
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 0.5 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 large bunch coriander, chopped
  • 1 small bunch mint, chopped
  • 2 tsp salt, or to taste
  • 2 litres water

To serve

  • 1 lemon, in wedges

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a heavy pot and cook the onion very gently until soft and translucent without colouring, about eight minutes. Algerian chorba starts pale rather than browned.
  2. Add the lamb and turn it in the onion for five minutes, again without browning hard.
  3. Stir in the tomato purée, cinnamon, paprika, and pepper, and cook out for three minutes.
  4. Add the grated tomatoes and cook down for eight minutes until thick.
  5. Pour in the water, add the cinnamon stick and salt, and simmer covered for forty minutes until the lamb is tender.
  6. Rinse the frik in cold water and drain. Stir it into the pot with the chickpeas.
  7. Simmer uncovered for twenty-five to thirty minutes, stirring now and then so it does not settle and catch. The grain will soften and release starch, and the soup will thicken noticeably.
  8. It should be pourable but with body, closer to a loose porridge than a broth. Loosen with hot water if it has gone too far.
  9. Stir in most of the coriander and mint in the last two minutes, taste for salt, and serve with the rest scattered over and lemon on the side.

Notes

Frik and freekeh are the same thing under two names and either is sold in Middle Eastern and North African shops; cracked is what you want rather than whole. Do not brown the onion or the lamb hard, since chorba frik is a pale soup and a dark base makes it something else. It thickens further as it stands, so make it slightly looser than you want to serve it. The herbs go in at the end and in quantity.

The Gastrographer

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