Tunisian Jewish cooking
Homemade hlalem with lentils and chickpeas
Share this recipe
Link to share
Tiny semolina pasta pieces, rolled between the fingers, thicken a soup of lentils, chickpeas, tomatoes and celery. A generous Tunisian meal in a bowl, scented with caraway and mint.
Method
- If preparing both original and lighter portions, set aside the ingredients and quantities specified for the lighter portions; the remainder is for the original portions. Prepare the two versions separately whenever their cooking or seasoning differs. Quantities given for the whole preparation are divided between the separate containers, not repeated in each one. Mix 140 g semolina with 1 g salt, 5 g oil and 65 g water. Knead for 8 minutes, adding up to 5 g of the reserved water if necessary, to make a firm but pliable dough. Cover and leave to rest for 25 minutes.
- Take walnut-sized pieces of dough and roll into thin ropes, 2 mm thick. Pinch off 1–1.5 cm lengths between your thumb and forefinger, tapering the ends slightly. Lay them without crowding on a tray sprinkled with the 10 g semolina reserved for shaping. Allow 25–30 minutes for shaping once you have mastered the technique, then leave the surface to dry for 20 minutes.
- As soon as you start shaping, put the lentils in a small saucepan with 400 g water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 25–30 minutes until almost tender. Keep their cooking liquid, which will give the soup body.
- While the pasta dries for 20 minutes, chop the celery and garlic. In a stockpot, soften the onion and celery in 35 g oil over a medium heat for 7 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato purée, tabil, caraway and harissa; stir for 1 minute, then add the tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add 700 g water, the lentils with their cooking liquid, the chickpeas, 4 g salt and the pepper. Simmer over a low heat for 10 minutes. The soup base should be loose enough to take the pasta; add a little of the reserved water if necessary.
- Sprinkle the hlalem into the simmering soup, stirring gently to separate them. Cook over a low heat for 10–15 minutes, sweeping the spatula across the bottom every 2 minutes. Taste a piece of pasta: it should be tender all the way through. Stir in the mint and leave to rest for 5 minutes; loosen with reserved hot water if the soup becomes too thick.
Variants and their steps remain below the recipe.
Lighter version
Reference variation for two servings.
The soup is looser and less velvety. The lentils, celery and mint stand out more, with fewer little pieces of pasta in each spoonful.
- Extra virgin olive oil : 25 g
- Fine durum wheat semolina : 120 g
For the lighter portions, make the dough with 110 g semolina and 50 g water, then up to 5 g extra water if necessary; keep 10 g semolina for the tray. Divide their oil into 5 g for the dough and 20 g for the soup. These quantities are included in the totals; keep their pasta and soup separate from the original version.
Less pasta and oil, with the same pulses.
On your plate
Recipe
794 kcal · protein 31 g · carbs 104 g · fat 26 g
Quantities per person
- 75 g Fine durum wheat semolina
- 50 g Green or brown lentils
- 100 g Tinned chickpeas (400 g tin)
- 50 g Yellow onions
- 60 g Celery
- 125 g Tinned chopped tomatoes (400 g tin)
- 12.5 g Double-concentrated tomato purée
- 20 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 5 g Garlic
- 1.5 g Tabil (Tunisian coriander, caraway, garlic and chilli spice blend)
- 0.5 g Ground caraway
- 0.5 g Dried mint
- 5 g Harissa
- 2.5 g Fine salt
- 0.25 g Ground black pepper
- 700 g Water
Cooking tips
The hlalem in this recipe are fresh, with only their surface dried: refrigerate them if not cooking straight away. To prepare the meal ahead, refrigerate the soup without the pasta and add the hlalem when reheating. Once cooked, cool quickly and refrigerate until the following day. For a first attempt, allow an extra 15–30 minutes for shaping, making about 145–160 minutes in total and 80–95 minutes of active preparation. The displayed times assume you have mastered the shaping technique and start cooking the lentils as soon as shaping begins.
Hlalem from the Tunisian repertoire; shaping documented by Slow Food in “De la terre à la table”, and the Jewish Tunisian tradition of hlalem with lentils (Harissa).
Comments and reviews
No comments published yet.
Share your experience
Your first name will appear with your comment. No additional email is required. Comments are reviewed before publication.