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Harissa (Lamb or Chicken with Wheatberries)

Mark Bittman

BY Mark Bittman

PUBLISHED June 22, 2022

You will think harissa is hot sauce, and you’re right. But it’s also the name of an Armenian dish (one that appears around the Middle East, also spelled ‘hareesa’) of chicken or lamb cooked with wheatberries —and not much else—until the meat melts into the wheat and the whole thing becomes what amounts to a savory porridge with just enough chew to make it interesting. The dominating flavors are extremely subtle: your meat, your wheat, maybe some Aleppo or Urfa or another mild chile, garlic, salt, and pepper.

 

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Harissa (Lamb or Chicken with Wheatberries)

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Makes 4 servings 1x

Time at least 3 hours

Units Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 medium lamb shank
  • 1 pound bone-in lamb neck (Alternatively, use a whole chicken. You need not bother to cut it up, but remove the innards. Or use 3 or 4 leg quarters.)
  • Salt
  • 1 cup whole barley or wheat
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 teaspoon Urfa chile, or more
  • Chives or another herb for garnish

Instructions

1. In a pressure cooker (or, yes, Instant Pot) or large saucepan, combine all the ingredients (except the garnish) with abundant water to cover; at least twice the level of the meat and grain. Put the lid on and bring to a boil, then simmer forever, stirring occasionally, and adding water as necessary. (Alternatively, use a pressure cooker, setting it for an hour for the first run.)

2. When the meat is very tender, falling off the bone by itself, let the mixture cool until you can handle it. (You can hasten the cooling by pouring the mixture out onto a platter; or, if you’re using lamb, you can likely pull out the meat and bone with tongs.) Remove any part of the meat that you don’t want to eat later – bones, of course, but gristle and excess fat, if there is such a thing. (With chicken, it’s a little trickier; you probably want to get rid of the skin, and cartilage.)

3. Return to the pot. If using the pressure cooker, make sure there’s adequate water, and set it for 30 minutes. If a conventional pot, again make sure there’s enough water and continue to simmer and stir. After a while, you can mash with a potato masher or puree a bit of the mixture (not all) with a stick blender to make it creamier, but go easy on that, and bear in mind that it’s not at all necessary.

4. The dish is done when it’s creamy and the meat is barely discernable. Taste and add whatever seasoning is lacking, then garnish and serve. This keeps well for re-heating of course.

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