JGE 39 – Harira

Good Day,

Thank you Emeril Lagasse. A short time ago I stumbled upon Emeril Lagasse’s recipe Harira: Moroccan Chickpea Stew with Chicken and Lentils on the Food Network site.  I’m always looking for something different, but in this case I filed the recipe away because I was not willing to spend 10 hours and 25 minutes working on something that maybe I could fix in at least 1 hour. Hell when Jim’s gotta eat, Jim’s gotta eat.

And so I tweaked Mr. Lagasse’s recipe a wee bit.

The tweaked part - I substituted a can of chickpeas. I have never had success soaking beans or peas from the dried stage. Mine, no matter what I do, always seem to be too, too raw, that is, hard. So I figured what the hell, there isn’t anyone judging my dish. There’s just the two of us.

And as I had pulled a chicken breast out of the freezer I figured I would replace the call for chicken thighs.

But wait I also exchanged dried orange lentils for the suggested dried green lentils.

My ingredients – Chickpeas, Olive Oil, Skinless Chicken Breast, Salt, Freshly Ground Pepper, Onions, Celery, Carrots (this was my add-in), Ground Ginger, Tumeric, Ground Black Pepper, Ground Cinnamon, Ground Nutmeg, Can of Roasted Diced Tomatoes, Chicken Stock, Dried Lentils, Long-grain Rice, Cilantro, Jalapeño, Lemon Juice, Plain Yogurt.

My secret – Prep before I start cooking. I have a tendency to pull things out of cupboards as I go along. It is ever so much easier to have everything in place and ready to go.

Mirepoix - Onions, Carrots, Celery

On low for 30 minutes.

Yes I had two helpings… and leftovers for lunch.

Hell, Jim’s gotta eat.

Enjoy.

Jim