Shorbat hab

Ingredients

The soup

• 500 glamb on the bone
• cubed, or lamb neck
• 200 gcoarse cracked wheat
• jareesh or bulgur
• rinsed
• 2onions, finely chopped
• 4tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoonstomato purée
• 3 tablespoonsghee
• 2 litreswater

The spices

• 1 tablespoonbaharat
• or mixed Arabic spice
• 1 teaspoonground coriander
• half a teaspoon turmeric
• 1dried lime, pierced
• loomi, optional
• salt and black pepper

To finish

• chopped parsley
• or coriander
• a squeeze of lemon
• optional

To serve

• hot at iftar
• straight after the dates
• with Arabic bread
• in deep bowls

Directions

1. Adjust the cooking time to whichever you have. This soup should be thick rather than thin. Pierce it several times with the point of a knife. Lift it out before serving, since it is not eaten. Start with one and judge it from there. Lamb must be cooked right through without exception. Keep raw and cooked meat well apart while working. Thick grain soup bubbles heavily and spits as it cooks.
2. Keep the heat moderate and use a deep heavy pot. Stir it with a long handled spoon and stand back. Rinse the cracked wheat thoroughly in cold water. Rinse it through two or three changes of water. Pick out any small stones you find as you rinse. Coarse jareesh benefits from an hour of soaking. Heat the ghee in a large heavy pot until hot. Brown the lamb pieces well on all their sides.
3. Work in batches rather than crowding the pot. Let each side develop real colour before turning. Do not move the pieces around constantly. Take the time to do it properly in batches. Add the chopped onion to the browned lamb. Cook it for about ten minutes until soft and golden.
4. Stir it so that residue comes away entirely. That residue is pure flavour and should not be wasted. Add the baharat, coriander and turmeric to the pot. Fry them briefly in the hot fat before liquid goes in.
5. Heat releases the aromatic oils in ground spices. Give them about thirty seconds while stirring hard. Add the chopped tomato and the tomato purée. Cook them down for about five minutes in the pot. The tomato should collapse and darken slightly.
6. Pour in the water and stir everything together. You will probably need to add more water later. Keep a kettle of hot water ready for that. Pierce the dried lime and drop it into the pot. Pierce it several times with a sharp knife point.
7. Simmer the lamb gently for about forty-five minutes. Lamb on the bone needs that long to become tender. Keep it at a bare simmer rather than a hard boil. Skim any foam that gathers in the first half hour. Lift it off gently with a spoon and discard it.
8. Add the rinsed cracked wheat to the simmering pot. It needs about forty minutes of its own cooking. Stir it well through the liquid as it goes in. Stir the pot regularly once the grain goes in. Add hot water whenever it becomes too thick to stir.
9. Add it a ladleful at a time rather than all at once. It should be thick but still pourable from a ladle. Make it slightly looser than you want to serve it. Simmer until the wheat is fully soft and swollen. Cracked wheat takes about forty minutes to soften.
10. Keep simmering until no hardness remains at all. Add more water if it needs longer than expected. Lift the dried lime out and discard it entirely. Season the soup generously with salt and pepper. Taste it carefully and add salt until it lifts.
11. Add the salt near the end rather than at the start. Taste it before deciding whether it needs more. Ladle the hot soup into deep bowls to serve. Stir the pot before ladling so it distributes evenly. The meat otherwise settles toward the bottom.
12. Make sure each bowl gets a fair share of the lamb. Scatter chopped parsley or coriander over each bowl. Add it at the last moment before serving. Serve Arabic flatbread alongside the bowls. It keeps three days refrigerated in a covered bowl.

Technique

• Add the cracked wheat only after the lamb has already softened — added at the start it collapses entirely, and it needs about forty minutes of its own cooking. Stir regularly once the grain goes in, scraping the base, since grain settles and catches and a burnt patch ruins the pot.
• Pierce the dried lime several times before it goes in so liquid reaches the inside, and lift it out before serving since it is not eaten. One is plenty for this quantity — two makes the whole pot noticeably bitter.
• Cracked wheat contains gluten, so this is not suitable for coeliac diets and there is no direct substitute for the grain. Thick grain soup spits as it cooks, so use a deep heavy pot and a long spoon.

Substitutions

• Coarse bulgur is a close substitute for Saudi jareesh, but cooks noticeably faster: jareesh is crushed from unhulled wheat while bulgur is parboiled before cracking, so adjust the time to whichever you have. Coarse jareesh benefits from an hour of soaking; bulgur needs none.
• Lamb neck is ideal and inexpensive here, and lamb on the bone gives far more flavour than boneless since the bones release gelatine into the soup.

Variations

• Brown the lamb properly in batches, letting each side develop real colour before turning and not crowding the pot — crowded meat steams instead of browning, and that browning carries a great deal of the flavour.
• The soup should be thick but still pourable from a ladle and thickens further off the heat, so make it slightly looser than you want to serve it. Undercooked grain has a hard chalky core; keep simmering until no hardness remains and add hot water a ladleful at a time as needed.
• It is served immediately after the dates and water that break the fast and before the main dishes — that order is genuinely observed in Saudi homes. A squeeze of lemon at the end is optional, since the dried lime already provides sourness.

History

Cracked wheat simmered with meat and tomato, served straight after the dates and water at sunset.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shorbat hab?

Shorbat hab is a soup & stew from Saudi Arabia: wheat and lamb soup that opens the Ramadan iftar. Cracked wheat simmered with meat and tomato, served straight after the dates and water at sunset.

How long does Shorbat hab take to make?

Shorbat hab takes 20 minutes of preparation and 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Shorbat hab?

Yes, within limits. Coarse bulgur is a close substitute for Saudi jareesh, but cooks noticeably faster: jareesh is crushed from unhulled wheat while bulgur is parboiled before cracking, so adjust the time to whichever you have. Coarse jareesh benefits from an hour of soaking; bulgur needs none. Lamb neck is ideal and inexpensive here, and lamb on the bone gives far more flavour than boneless since the bones release gelatine into the soup.

What is the most important thing to get right in Shorbat hab?

Adjust the cooking time to whichever you have. This soup should be thick rather than thin. Pierce it several times with the point of a knife. Lift it out before serving, since it is not eaten. Start with one and judge it from there. Lamb must be cooked right through without exception. Keep raw and cooked meat well apart while working. Thick grain soup bubbles heavily and spits as it cooks.