For our first full day in our house in '08 I made a soup I found in the Vegetarian Times I bought in La Guardia Airport on our way home from our loooong holiday back east. According to the magazine Moroccan Harira is served during Ramadan to break the fast. Traditionally it has lamb, which of course was out, but the chickpeas (drained), green lentils (par boiled), onion (chopped), cilantro and parsley (chopped), ground ginger, cinnamon stick, tomatoes (separated from juice) and vermicelli. And look, every thing's all prepped and ready to go! What a fortuitous way to begin cooking in the new year.
I proceeded step by step and all went well. While the soup was simmering I began to make the tadouira, which sounds exciting and exotic but was only a little flour, chopped cilantro, lemon juice and tomato paste. This is how I realized that despite my newly acquired skill at preparation, I has screwed up. The little white spice packed that I assumed was full of ground ginger, was actually full of all purpose flour. Good thing the onions had sauteed in the rich aromatics of cinnamon and all-purpose flour. I'm sure the beans benefited
d from softening in the warming spice of all-purpose flour.So I put the ginger, and waited five or so minutes before putting int he tadouira and vermicelli. It ended up tasting sweet and sour, especially with the lemon slices it was served with. I did tell the cook I screwed up. I also told him it was no big deal. The cook was not surprised that, despite the planned preparation, I had manged to mess it up somehow. I was surprised at how much the cook liked the soup. The only suggestion was more noodles. I can do that with out screwing it up (I think).
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