Moroccan Lamb Soup

As the temperature is starting to drop, my thoughts go to comforting warm soups, the thicker doona and a warm dog sitting on my lap.

This soup is made in my all-time favourite, the slow cooker, and makes a lot of soup. Great for stashing away in the freezer for those nights when you just can’t be bothered to cook.

Ingredients:

500g diced lamb shoulder

1 litre vegetable stock

2 red onions, chopped

3 stalks celery, finely chopped

3 cups celery leaves, roughly chopped

bunch parsley, chopped

bunch coriander and stalks, chopped

3/4 cup red lentils

500ml water

1 x 400ml tin cherry tomatoes

1 x 350ml tomato passata

juice 1 lemon

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground pepper

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp harissa paste

1 x 400ml tin chickpeas

salt to taste

1. Brown lamb in frying pan, then place in slow cooker.

2. Add onion, spices (except for salt and harissa), lentils, celery stalks, 1/2 of celery leaves, coriander stalks, tomatoes, passata, stock and water and cook on low for 7 hours.

3. Add chickpeas, parsley, coriander, remaining celery leaves, salt, harissa and lemon juice and heat for further 20 minutes.

4. Serve with sourdough bread.