Xarba Arbija | A Libyan Soup Recipe

Xarba Arbija is a very filling soup that closely resembles the Middle Eastern Lentil Soup. This Libyan soup features a liberal quantity of Hararat, a classic Libyan Five-Spice blend.

When looking for a recipe to make for the letter X, my husband came up with this classic Libyan Beef and Vegetable soup, which includes lentils and chickpeas.

The name was very fascinating, and above all, the soup had a five-spice blend in it, which made it very aromatic. I skipped the meat from the soup and added vegetable broth instead of meat stock to make the soup flavorful.

This was a very filling soup, and it closely resembled the Lentil Soup that I had made earlier this month. Fall has begun for us, and I am all set with a few new soup recipes that are right up my alley.

The soup had a liberal quantity of the five spices, also called Hararat. This is a very classic Libyan five-spice blend that is used in many soup recipes.

A-Z Marathon - Alphabet X
Category - International

Preparation time - 15 mins
Cooking time - 1 hr 20 mins
Difficulty level - easy

Ingredients to make Xarba Arbija - (Serves 6)

• Red lentils/masoor dal - ½ cup (washed and drained)
• Chickpeas (cooked or canned) - 1 can (drained and rinsed) or about 200 gms cooked
• Vegetable broth - 500 ml or about 2 cups
• Water - 500 ml or about 2 cups
• Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
• Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)
• Carrot - 1 large (finely chopped)
• Potato - 1 large (skin removed and finely chopped)
• Tomato - 3 (chopped)
• Hararat - 2 tablespoon (see below for recipe)
• Chili powder - ½ tsp
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste

To make the Hararat or the Libyan Five spice blend -

• Red chilies - 2
• Coriander seeds - 4 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 4 tsp
• Cinnamon - 2 sticks (broken into pieces)
• Allspice - 1 tsp

Procedure to make Xarba Arbija -

To make the Hararat -

• Dry roast the red chilies, cinnamon, cumin, and coriander seeds until fragrant (about 2-3 minutes). Once the spices are roasted, add allspice and then give it one stir. Turn off the flame and let it cool down.

• Grind the roasted spices into a fine powder using a spice blender and store them in an airtight container for future use.

To make the Libyan soup -

• Heat oil in a deep pot and add the chopped onions and garlic. Saute until softened (for about 5 mins).

• Add the chopped vegetables and fry them for 5 more minutes.

• Now add the hararat spice, chili powder, salt, sugar, and tomatoes and mix well. Let it cook for about 5 minutes more. Add the salt carefully since the broth will have some salt in it.

• Now add the washed and drained lentils and mix them well. Add the vegetable stock and water.

• Bring it to a boil and then simmer for about 40 minutes or until the lentils are cooked.

• Now add the cooked or canned chickpeas and let them cook for 15 more minutes.

• Check the consistency of the soup and add more water if it is too thick.

• Serve hot with lemon wedges on the side or with some crusty bread.

More Soups

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Recipe

Xarba Arbija - A Libyan Soup Recipe

Xarba Arbija is a very filling soup and it closely resembled the Lentil Soup. This Libyan soup had a liberal quantity of the five spice also called Hararat. This is a very classic Libya Five Spice blend that is used in many soup recipes.

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Course: dinner

Cuisine: African, libya

Diet: Vegetarian

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 people

Calories: 165kcal

Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Equipment

• ▢
  Pressure Cooker
• ▢
  spatula

Ingredients

• ▢ ½ cup Red lentils/masoor dal Washed and drained
• ▢ 1 can Chickpeas Cooked or canned (drained and rinsed) or about 200 gms cooked
• ▢ 500 ml Vegetable broth About 2 cups
• ▢ 500 ml Water About 2 cups
• ▢ 1 Onion Finely chopped
• ▢ 2 cloves Garlic Minced
• ▢ 1 large Carrot Finely chopped
• ▢ 1 large Potato Skin removed and finely chopped
• ▢ 3 Tomato Chopped
• ▢ 2 tbsp. Hararat See below for recipe
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Chili powder
• ▢ 2 teaspoon Oil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Sugar
• ▢ to taste Salt

TO MAKE THE HARARAT OR THE LIBYAN FIVE SPICE BLEND -

• ▢ 2 Red chilies
• ▢ 4 teaspoon Coriander seeds
• ▢ 4 teaspoon Cumin seeds
• ▢ 2 stick Cinnamon Broken into pieces
• ▢ 1 teaspoon All spice

Instructions

TO MAKE THE HARARAT -

• Dry roast the red chilies, cinnamon, cumin, and coriander seeds until fragrant (about 2-3 mins). Once the spices are roasted add the allspice and then give it one stir. Turn off the flame and let it cool down.
• Grind the roasted spices into a fine powder using a spice blender and store in an airtight container for future use.

TO MAKE THE SOUP -

• Heat oil in a deep pot and add the chopped onions and garlic. Saute until softened (for about 5 mins).
• Add the chopped vegetables and fry them for 5 more minutes.
• Now add the hararat spice, chili powder, salt, sugar, and the tomatoes and mix well. Let it cook for about 5 mins more. Add the salt carefully since the broth will have some salt in it.
• Add the washed and drained lentils and mix it well. Add the vegetable stock and water.
• Bring it to a boil and then simmer for about 40 mins or until the lentils are cooked.
• Now add the cooked or canned chickpeas and let it cook for 15 more mins.
• Check for the consistency of the soup and add more water if it is too thick.
• Serve hot with lemon wedges on the side or with some crusty bread.

Nutrition

Calories: 165kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 364mg | Potassium: 511mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 2838IU | Vitamin C: 23mg | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 3mg

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