Harisse / Harrise / Herriseh / Keshkeg

Servings: 4 Prep: 15 min Cook: 1 hour 30 mins Total: 1 hour 45 mins

A few months ago, I suggested people let me know if there were any recipes they’d like to see me create for them. I like a good challenge and wanted to see what people had for me. One of the individuals who sent me some inspiration was a woman named “Pauline G.” She almost took it as a homework assignment and sent me a LIST of recipes! Oh, and it was quite a list, too! This is the first of them added to my website, but more shall follow. It was no simple task. Pauline really wanted to push me, it would seem! Most of the requests were desserts, but this one is more a … soupy-stew-mush. I’m not quite sure why I’m posting it, much less first! (actually … it has to do mostly with the alphabet!)

This is a fairly obscure dish. It’s actually a heavily overcooked mushy stew-like porridge, with just enough spice to make it interesting. It seems like it’s usually made with lamb or chicken and wheat or barley kernals. It’s something like an Armenian comfort food, but I’ve also seen references to it from Lebanon and other Arabic countries. Warm, soft, inviting and … comforting. Perfect for a chilly winter day!

I decided to give it a shot with shirataki rice and … here’s where this recipe nose dives into Lala-Land. See, without the starch to really bind this thing together into a comforting mush, it would be shredded chicken in and amongst tiny slippery pearls of glucomannan fiber. Whee!

So, knowing there was nothing in it to really make it STICK to itself, I opted to make it more soup-like. In the end, I really liked it for what it was. It was a flavorful bowl of chicken soup with some interesting spices and little shirataki pellets. It was warm and comforting, but I know it wasn’t the homey porridge I was being asked for.

It’s good enough as a soup and tasty. Give it a shot for something different. The flavors are excellent! However … in terms of recreating a low-carb rendition of the dish? I feel I failed … and I’m sad.

Oh well … can’t win ’em all!   

Harisse / Harrise / Herriseh / Keshkeg

1 from 4 votes

Print Rate

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Servings: 4 Servings

Author: DJ Foodie

Ingredients

• 2 each boneless chicken breasts (or equivalent thigh meat - skin optional)
• 4 cups chicken stock or broth
• 1 small onion quartered
• 4 each bay leaves
• 1 each cinnamon stick
• 2 8-oz packets miracle rice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seed ground
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg freshly ground
• salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Instructions

• In a medium sized soup pot, place your chicken breasts, chicken stock, onion, bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Bring to a very low simmer and maintain low heat for about 75 minutes. If any gunk rises to the top of the pot, skim it off with a spoon and discard.
• While the chicken simmers away, cut open the shirataki bags and pour the contents into a strainer to get rid of the liquid. Once the rice is in a strainer, run it under cold water for a good minute or two. Wash that fishy odor off of it. Then, let it drip dry for a bit.
• Pre-heat a large non-stick pan. Add your rice to the pan and stir fry them, to dry them off and tighten them up, a bit. I've read that you do not need to oil these; there are no carbs to stick to the pan. However, I always add a little oil to them, just to be on the safe side. Cook them over very high heat for about 2 or 3 minutes, tossing them around, until they're dry. Evidently, if you do not coat them with oil, when they are sufficiently dry, they will "squeek", like a basketball player stopping abruptly.
• When they appear dry, add your spices to the rice and toss them in. Turn the heat off the rice and let it sit until the chicken is ready.
• When the chicken is soft and shred-able, remove the breasts from the broth and shred them with a fork. Return the chicken to the broth, along with the rice mixture.
• One the mixture comes back to a simmer, season with a bit of salt and pepper, then serve!
• Enjoy!

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