Orange & Pepper Sharmûlah

Sharmûlah or Chermoula (in Arabic: ‏شرمولة) is a kind of marinade used with fish, seafood and meat. There are many versions of this marinade, but there is alwaysfresh herbs, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice in it.

This version is prepared with orange juice, orange blossom water and green pepper. It's great with chicken or vegetables, such as slices of zucchini or eggplant, eiter for a tajine or a BBQ. 

Prep and cook time: 5 minutes

• 1 handfull fresh coriander leaves
• lemon juice of 1/2 lemon 
• 1 red onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 teaspoons orange blossom water
• 2 table spoons pickled green pepper
• 3 teaspoons baharât
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoons salt

Cut coriander, garlic and onion into piecees. Blend with all the other ingredients until you have a smooth marinade. That's it. Yes, really!

Enjoy your meal!

Shurba

 

Actually, "shurba" means just "soup", but when people talk about "shurba", they almost always talk about this kind of soup. There's a different recipe in every country, every region - even in every family - how to prepare it.My version is fast & easy to prepare. You can also add some vermicelli to it.

This soup is traditinally served for iftâr, the evening meal when Muslims break their fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan.

For 3-4 Servings:

• 0,75 liter chicken stock
• 0,2 liter tomato purée (passata di pomodoro)
• 1 chicken breast 
• 200 g cooked chickpeas (canned or "homecooked")
• 1 chopped onion (~ 150 g)
• 1 chopped carrot (~ 100 g) 
• 1 chopped garlic clove
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 cloves 
• 1 tsp seven spices (mixture of paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin, fenugreek, thyme, dill and mustard seeds)
• 2 tsp chopped fresh dill
• 2 tsp chopped fresh coriander
• 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
• 100 g cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 lemon 

Peel the chickpeas. In a large pot, heat onion, carrot and garlic for 5 minutes until they start browning. Add chicken stock, chicken breast, tomato purée, chickpeas, cinnamon, cloves and seven spices & cook for 20 minutes. Cut the cherry tomatoes into pieces. Take the chicken breast out, cut into small pieces and put back into the soup again. Add cherry tomatoes, 1 tsp chopped dill, 1 tsp chopped coriander, 1 tsp chopped parsley and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove cinnamon and cloves & serve with 1 tsp chopped dill, 1 tsp chopped coriander, 1 tsp chopped parsley and a few sprinkles of lemon juice.  

Enjoy!