Chorba

Chorba frik is a variant of a very traditional soup Maghreb consumed in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, prepared with mutton or lamb which can also be substituted with beef or poultry depending on the recipes and regions. The most important ingredients being the lemon and egg mixture that are added at the end of the preparation, a method that is reminiscent of the Greek avgolemono soup.

Chorba is definitely the culinary symbol of Algeria as much as harira is for Morocco but as iconic as it is, it was not born there.

It was actually imported to Algeria by Turkish invaders in the sixteenth century. In the Ottoman army, soup was particularly important in the Janissary Corps where the çorbaci (literally “soup man”) was a military rank equivalent to colonel. From Turkey, it spread throughout the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia and the Maghreb.

In the capital of Algeria, Algiers, people talk more about chorba hamra fdaouech (red chorba with vermicelli), which, by itself, has several variants: with squash, eggplant, fresh beans, potatoes, peas or a mix of vegetables.