Harira is a traditional Moroccan soup, served during Muslim Ramadan to break the fasting day. This crockpot version is a wonderful way to enjoy Harira. There’s no need to wait for Ramadan for this delicious soup.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 small onions
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 tsp each of ground cumin
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp pepper
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 each large bunch of fresh coriander and parsley
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup green or brown lentils
1 19 oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cups lemon juice
Garnish:
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 lemon,thinly sliced
12 pitted dates, halved

Chop onion, carrots and celery. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry vegetables until softened, about 5 minutes. Add cumin, ginger, turmeric and pepper. Fry, stirring, for 1 minute. Scrape into crockpot. Pour 1 cup of broth into skillet, bring to boil, crape into crockpot.
Chop up 1/4 cup each of coriander and parsley, set aside. Tie together remaining coriander, parsley, and cinnamon stick. Add to crockpot along with remaining broth, lentils, chickpeas and tomatoes. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours. Discard herb bundle. Stir in lemon juice and reserved chopped herbs. Serve with cinnamon, lemon slices and dates.

I made this soup the day we went to the Olympic torch relay. We came home to this exotic and fragrant soup ready to warm us up after our afternoon outdoors. I served it with whole wheat pita bread and the garnishes suggested. Cole had a lot of fun putting lemon slices and dates in everyone’s bowls, athough he didn’t actually eat much of it.
The rest of us enjoyed it. I had it for lunch the next day without the garnishes and I actually liked it better. So if you don’t happen to have (or like) dates or lemons on hand, don’t worry about it too much.

-Adapted from ‘Canadian Living: Slow Cooker Collection’