Chorba is a North African stew with tonnes of varieties, but generally a tomato-based soup with lamb, veggies, and some sort of pasta or grain – in this case, frik (freekeh). I’ve never had frik before, so I’m looking forward to trying it!

I’m using this recipe from Allrecipes, particularly because it has a fun process of steaming then squishing the tomatoes with a spoon to force them through a steamer. I made a few minor variations – I used beef instead of lamb (my supermarket was out of lamb, plus beef is apparently used in some varieties of this recipe). I also used Korean pepper instead of paprika – always down for a bit more of a punch. The chorba is making my house smell amazing as it cooks, particularly since there’s cinnamon and mint in with the meat and veg.

Oh yum – the frik adds a beautiful smokiness that goes really well with the punchiness of the black and red pepper, with a lot of richness from the cinnamon and meat. The mint really makes this special and different, though, it works so well. This is a really nice hearty meal!