Recipes

Harraq is a Syrian dish that is not only known for its delicious taste, but also for its strange name and the funny story behind the name. This meal brings families and friends together on special days, often in the spring. It is not an ordinary food such as chicken or vegetables, but it should be made for special gatherings accompanied by smiles and laughter. Friends have fun making this dish and talking about ancient and modern secrets. This meal takes a long time to prepare and decorate. I will tell you how to prepare the famous Harraq dish, and then I will tell you the story of how this dish was named.

Harraq ingredients:

• A cup of red lentils
• Five cups of water
• Three onions, cut into slices
• Half a cup of vegetable oil
• 1 head of garlic "finely chopped"
• 2 small bunches of green coriander, finely chopped
• Half a cup of olive oil
• 1 cup of "boiled" small size pasta
• Half a cup of pomegranate molasses
• Half a cup of pomegranate seeds
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• A large loaf of bread is cut into small cubes and fried until golden brown. These will be your croutons.

Preparing Harraq:

1. Put the red lentils in a saucepan of water and leave it until it boils, then reduce the heat and leave it until it becomes tender.
2. Fry the onions in half a cup of olive oil, and set them aside after filtering.
3. In the same skillet, fry the garlic and green coriander, stirring constantly for two minutes.
4. Add half of the garlic and coriander to the lentils and stir well, then add the boiled pasta, pomegranate molasses, and half of the fried onions.
5. Season the mixture with salt, and pepper.
6. Leave the lentil mixture until it boils gently and on a low heat for ten minutes.
7. Put the lentil mixture in a serving dish, and put the croutons on top with the rest of the onions, and the rest of the garlic and coriander mixture. It is possible to decorate the dish with pomegranate and green coriander.

Reason for the name:

There are often many stories when it comes to naming this popular dish, but the most popular version is the following:

It is said that a wicked man who loved food, could not control himself and wait for his wife to offer food, so she would always see him in the kitchen tasting the food before putting it on the table.

One time, the wife was preparing a new dish she created. The husband could not wait so he went ahead and put his finger on the pot to taste it. His finger burned.

When their son entered to ask about the food, the mother thought that her son was asking about what happened to his father and she said, “he burned his finger”. The boy thought that “burning his finger,” was the name of the dish.

The name was circulated from that day and the dish became known as "burn of his finger."