{"id":2288,"date":"2019-05-15T15:51:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T12:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/test.thebitterolive.com\/?p=2288"},"modified":"2019-12-18T20:56:12","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T18:56:12","slug":"libyan-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.thebitterolive.com\/?p=2288","title":{"rendered":"Libyan Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My mum spent many years of her childhood living with her family in Libya, where my grandpa used to work. Their friends there were from different nationalities and my grandma picked up more than a few dishes there that she added to her repertoire of endless recipes. I must say though that the Libyan dishes my mum prepares are some of my favorite and this soup is perfect and is a full meal on its own. Deep inside, I have always felt grateful they stayed in Libya, as it made me experience dishes I wouldn\u2019t have otherwise known about.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although,\nwe enjoy this soup so much, mum almost exclusively prepares it in Ramadan,\nespecially when we have people over for Iftar and almost always on the first\nday of Ramadan, which makes it even more special. Everyone who tastes the soup\nraves about it, even my husband who usually hates everything that has lots of\ntomato paste.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I\ndecided to write this recipe, I asked mum what this soup was called in Libya, as\nthere is no way they\u2019ve called it Libyan soup. To my surprise, it was only\ncalled \u201cshorba\u201d, which is the Arabic for soup. I read in a blog\npost of a Libyan blogger<\/a> that when Libyans talk about soup, this is the one,\nand there is no confusion as to which soup they are referring to. This is how\npopular this soup is. It sums up all the flavors of Libya in one dish. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ingredients<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, this soup is cooked with lamb, but we cook it with beef at home. The beef needs to be very thinly sliced. Also, most of the variations I saw have chickpeas, but it is not found in the version my grandma used to cook. The dried mint added at the end of the cooking is what gives this soup its unique taste, so please do not omit (check my post on how to dry your mint at home if you do not have access to dried mint<\/a>)<\/em>. Additionally, Libyans use a lot of tomato paste in their cooking, and this recipe is no exception. If you plan to cook this, please try to use the best tomato paste you can find, preferably all natural with no added preservatives. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019d\nnotice that this recipe calls for Libyan spice mix called Hrarat<\/em>.\nBelieve it or not, even though my mum and aunts haven\u2019t set foot in Libya for\nover 30 years now, they still receive their Libyan spice from their friends in\nLibya! I will at some point write a post about how to make your own blend, but\nfor now if you can\u2019t find the Libyan mix replace with \u00bc tsp each of cinnamon,\nblack pepper, ground ginger and cardamom. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make\nthe soup, start by saut\u00e9ing the onions on medium heat until the onion is translucent.\nThen add the thinly sliced meat, bouillon cube, spices and \u00bd tsp salt and cook\nfor 5 minutes, stirring continuously. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"meat<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then add\nthe chopped cilantro and parsley and cook for an additional 2 minutes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n