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Moroccan Soups

Moroccan Lentil Soup — Adas

By The Moroccan Cooks KitchenUpdated

The everyday Moroccan lentil soup: brown lentils cooked down with grated tomato, garlic and cumin until thick enough to eat with bread. Vegan, one pot, and cheap.

Bowl of thick Moroccan lentil soup topped with olive oil, cumin and chopped coriander
Photo: Pexels
Prep
15 min
Cook
45 min
Total
1 hr
Serves
6
Difficulty
Easy

Every Moroccan household has a lentil soup, and it is not harira. Harira is the Ramadan soup — tomato-heavy, thickened with flour, usually with meat in it. Adas is what gets cooked on an ordinary cold Tuesday: lentils, garlic, a grated tomato, cumin and olive oil, left to collapse into itself until a spoon stands up in it.

The flavour comes from two places. The first is cumin, which goes in twice — once with the onion so it toasts, and once at the end so it stays sharp. The second is olive oil poured over each bowl at the table, which is not a garnish in Morocco but part of the dish.

It costs very little, it freezes well, and it is naturally vegan. Serve it thick, with khobz, and let people thin their own bowl with a splash of hot water if they want to.

Ingredients

Servings

Makes 6 servings

For the soup

To finish

Instructions

  1. Soften the base

    Heat the olive oil in a large pot over a medium heat. Add the onion, celery and the three crushed garlic cloves and cook for 8 minutes, stirring, until soft and translucent but not coloured. Browning the onion here makes the soup taste of roast onion rather than lentils.

  2. Toast the spices

    Add the cumin, paprika, ginger, turmeric and black pepper. Stir constantly for 45 seconds, until they smell warm and slightly nutty. They will catch and turn bitter in a minute, so have the tomato ready.

  3. Cook out the tomato

    Add the grated tomato and the tomato purée. Turn the heat up a little and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the mixture darkens and the oil begins to separate at the edges. This step is what stops the finished soup tasting raw and sharp.

  4. Add the lentils

    Stir in the rinsed lentils and the two whole garlic cloves, and turn them through the tomato for a minute so each lentil is coated. Pour in the water, bring to a boil, then drop the heat to a bare simmer and cover.

  5. Simmer

    Cook for 35 to 45 minutes, stirring every ten minutes so nothing sticks. The lentils are ready when they are completely soft and some have broken down into the liquid — you want the soup thick, not brothy. If it is still loose, take the lid off for the last ten minutes.

  6. Season

    Add the salt now, not earlier, and taste. Fish out the whole garlic cloves, mash them against the side of the pot with a fork and stir them back in. Add the second teaspoon of cumin and most of the chopped herbs.

  7. Serve

    Ladle into bowls. Pour a spoonful of olive oil over each one, scatter the remaining herbs and serve with lemon wedges and warm khobz. The lemon is squeezed in at the table, by whoever wants it.

Cook’s notes

  • Salt late. Lentils added to salted water keep a firm skin and can take half an hour longer to soften.
  • Rinse the lentils but do not soak them. Soaking makes them cook unevenly and they need no help at these sizes.
  • The soup thickens a lot overnight. Loosen it with hot water when reheating and taste for salt again — it always needs a little more the second day.
  • For a heavier bowl, add a handful of broken vermicelli or 50 g of rice for the last ten minutes, and top up the water.
  • It freezes well for three months. Freeze it slightly looser than you would serve it.

Recipe information

Prep time
15 min
Cook time
45 min
Total time
1 hr
Servings
6
Calories
265 kcal per serving
Cuisine
Moroccan
Course
Soup
Difficulty
Easy
Keywords
moroccan lentil soup, adas recipe, moroccan lentils, vegan moroccan soup

Nutrition is an estimate per serving, calculated from the ingredient list. Values vary with brands, cuts and portion size.

lentilssoupveganbudgetmake aheadwinter

Frequently asked questions

Is Moroccan lentil soup the same as harira?
No. Harira is the Ramadan soup: much more tomato, chickpeas as well as lentils, usually lamb or beef, and a flour-and-water tedouira whisked in to thicken it. Adas is the plain weekday lentil soup — no meat, no chickpeas, no flour, and far less work. They taste quite different.
Can I use red lentils?
You can, but you will get a smooth purée rather than a soup with texture, and it will cook in about 20 minutes instead of 40. Moroccan cooks use brown or green lentils here precisely because some hold their shape while others break down. If red lentils are what you have, use them and expect a different dish.
Do I need to blend it?
No. The body comes from lentils breaking down on their own over 40 minutes. If yours are stubborn, crush some against the side of the pot with the back of a ladle rather than reaching for a blender, which makes it uniform and slightly gluey.
How do Moroccans eat this?
With bread, not with a spoon alone. A piece of khobz is folded into a scoop and used to lift the soup, and the bowl is finished by drinking the last of it. Olive oil is poured over at the table and a lemon wedge is squeezed in by each person.

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