Moroccan cuisine · Soups & Stews

Chorba Beida

Pale chicken soup without tomato, with chickpeas, plenty of onion and cinnamon, thickened with egg and lemon.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 500 g boneless chicken thigh
• 3 onions
• 150 g chickpeas (from a jar)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 80 g vermicelli noodles
• 1 egg
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tbsp clarified butter
• Salt

Instructions

1. Cut the chicken into 3 cm pieces, slice the onions into thin half-rings, and rinse and drain the chickpeas.
2. Melt the clarified butter in a pot and sauté the meat with the onions over medium heat for 8 min without browning — the onions should soften but not take on color.
3. Add the ground cinnamon, white pepper, salt and the cinnamon stick, pour in 1.5 l hot water and simmer gently, covered, for 25 min.
4. Stir in the chickpeas, sprinkle in the vermicelli and cook uncovered for 6–8 min, until the noodles are tender and the soup turns silky.
5. Whisk the egg with the juice of half a lemon, stir in two ladles of hot broth, then pour the mixture into the soup over the lowest heat without letting it boil again.
6. Remove the cinnamon stick, scatter with chopped parsley and serve immediately with the remaining lemon wedges.