Green Wheat, Chickpea, and Marrow Soup
Shurbat Farik bi'l-Mukh
Region: Tunisia
Category: Soups
Season: Any
Difficulty: Easy

Farīk (pronounced FirEEK or FREEK or FREEKeh) is immature hard wheat that goes through a roasting process in its production. The food is commonly prepared from immature grains of durum wheat (hard wheat or semolina) when the grains are still milky. The stage at which farīk is prepared is very critical. The moment the leaves start to turn yellow and the seeds are still soft and creamy is the ideal moment. The wheat is harvested and arranged in small piles and left to dry in the sun for a day. The piles are set on fire and the blaze carefully controlled so only the straw and chaff burn and not the seeds. It is the high moisture content of the seeds--unique to hard wheat--which prevents them from catching fire. The supervisor of the burn must pay close attention to the location of the fire, the wind, and the progress of the burn to assure a perfect final product. The roasted wheat then undergoes further thrashing and sun-drying to make the flavor, texture, and color uniform. The seeds are now cracked into smaller pieces so they look like a green bulgur. The resulting food is earthy, smoky, and has a distinct flavor. It is popular in Syria, Palestine, and Jordan and one finds famous freekeh dishes in Turkey as well as Egypt. In Tunisia, farīk (the classic Arabic; freekeh in colloquial) also refers to young barley grains and is the name of a kind of almond that will split into two with only the slightest rubbing pressure. Farīk, in fact, derives from the word for "to rub."  Another dish called farīkkiyyain is a kind of harīsa (the porridge, not the spicy condiment) made with green wheat instead of the regular hard wheat. This recipe is a shūrba (soup) made with farīk. If desired, you can let the soup cool completely overnight, remove the layer of fat that congeals on top, and reheat the soup for a nearly fatless version. You can find freekeh on-line at http://www.bobsredmill.com/organic-cracked-freekah.html   and see interesting photographs of its production are at http://www.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/index.php?todo=plant&id=984&type=plants&search=frikeh

[photo: Clifford A. Wright]

Yield: Makes 4 servings
Preparation Time: 2:15 hours

1 cup dried chickpeas (about 1/2 pound), picked over, soaked in water to cover overnight, and drained

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon tomato paste

7 cups water

1 teaspoon hot or mild harīsa and more for garnish

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salt to taste

2 pounds lamb or beef marrow bones

1 lamb's foot (optional)

1 cup farīk, picked over for stones and chaff and rinsed

2 tablespoons clarified butter

1 lemon, quartered

1. Put the drained chickpeas, parsley, celery, olive oil, tomato paste dissolved in 1 cup water, harīsa, cayenne and black pepper, and salt in a pot and stir to blend. Add the marrow bones and lamb's foot, if using.

2. Turn the heat to high and cook for 10 minutes, stirring or shaking occasionally. Add 6 cups water and bring to a boil. Add the farīk, stir, and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Add water if desired or necessary while the farīk cooks. When the chickpeas are soft and the farīk tender, add the samna and check the salt. Serve with lemon wedges and harīsa.

Posted: 11/06/2007