Algerian · Lamb
Chorba Hamra bel Frik (Algerian Lamb, Tomato, and Freekeh Soup)
About this recipe
Algerian cooking shares the Maghreb tradition of slow-cooked tagines, couscous, and spice blends (cumin, coriander, paprika), with French colonial influences visible in baked goods and a few savoury dishes.
As a lamb dish, Chorba Hamra bel Frik (Algerian Lamb, Tomato, and Freekeh Soup) works the same braising-vs-fast-cooking divide as beef — lean cuts for hot fast cooking, tougher cuts for time-and-temperature stews where the flavour deepens.
Use the scaler above to set the number of servings you actually want to cook — quantities resize with culinary fractions, units promote sensibly (three teaspoons become a tablespoon), and the result reads like the recipe was written for your table.
Recipe data is sourced from TheMealDB's open community database; ScaleRecipe handles the curation, the scaling math, the editorial commentary, and the conversion utilities woven into each page.
Translate this recipe
Reading in English
Listen to this recipe
No matching voice on this device
Method
- Place freekeh in a small bowl and cover with cold water. Set aside.
- Combine lamb, onion, black pepper, paprika, cinnamon, and salt in a pot. Stir in oil, 1/2 the cilantro, 1/2 the mint, and celery stalk until combined. Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Stir in chickpeas; pour in just enough water to cover, and return to a simmer. Stir in zucchini, carrot, and tomato paste.
- Set a steamer over the pot; add tomatoes. Cover and steam tomatoes until soft, about 5 minutes. Crush tomatoes using a wooden spoon, so pulp drips into soup. Remove the steamer and discard leftover tomato peels.
- Add potato to soup and just enough water to cover. Simmer until potato is soft, about 10 minutes.
- Drain freekeh and add to soup. Simmer until soft, about 15 minutes. Remove celery stalk and discard. Sprinkle soup with remaining 1/2 cilantro and remaining 1/2 mint before serving.
Cooking notes
When scaling protein-led dishes, weigh the meat rather than counting pieces, and remember that the pan size limits how much you can sear at once.
For volume-to-weight conversions of any ingredient — flour, sugar, butter, salts — use the ingredient converter. To translate the recipe's oven temperature between °C, °F and gas mark, see the temperature converter.
When you scale this recipe up or down, remember that cooking time does not scale linearly. A doubled cake takes longer, but not twice as long; a doubled soup takes roughly twice as long. The cooking-time guide gives sensible starting estimates by dish geometry.
Scaling notes
Scaling Chorba Hamra bel Frik (Algerian Lamb, Tomato, and Freekeh Soup)
Chorba Hamra bel Frik (Algerian Lamb, Tomato, and Freekeh Soup) is written for around four servings as it stands on this page — scaling it up for a party or down for a meal-for-one is the small math problem most home cooks face every week. Here's how this particular dish responds to scaling, what changes linearly, and what doesn't.
Lamb cooks similarly to beef but is leaner, which means scaling Chorba Hamra bel Frik (Algerian Lamb, Tomato, and Freekeh Soup) up calls for slightly longer rest time after cooking (proportional to thickness, not mass). Braises and stews scale linearly; roasts follow the cube-root rule — doubling a lamb leg adds about a quarter to the cook time, not double.
Skip the math entirely — ScaleRecipe's scaler rewrites every ingredient line above with proper culinary fractions and smart unit promotion the moment you change the serving count. Open the scaler →
Beyond the recipe
Substitutions & make-ahead — Chorba Hamra bel Frik (Algerian Lamb, Tomato, and Freekeh Soup)
If you're cooking Chorba Hamra bel Frik (Algerian Lamb, Tomato, and Freekeh Soup) for a future meal (or doubling up for leftovers), here's how this dish handles storage, reheating, and the timing decisions most recipes don't spell out.
Make-ahead, storage, and reheating
Lamb behaves like beef for storage — braises and stews like Chorba Hamra bel Frik (Algerian Lamb, Tomato, and Freekeh Soup) (when it's in that family) improve overnight as the spice and acid components marry. Refrigerate in a wide shallow container; reheat gently with a splash of the cooking liquid. The stronger flavour signature lamb carries mellows during storage, which can be a feature (a milder leftover the next day) or a bug (the original character gets muted) depending on what you're after.
Recipe video
Chorba Hamra bel Frik (Algerian Lamb, Tomato, and Freekeh Soup)
Keep cooking
More lamb recipes
Cooking aids
Tools to use while you cook this.
Each opens in a new tab so the timer keeps running. The math is auditable on the guide page below each converter, with worked examples and where the numbers come from.
Volume
Tablespoons, teaspoons, cups, ml, fluid ounces — every culinary volume unit, with US/metric/imperial cups handled distinctly.
OpenWeight
Grams, ounces, pounds, kilograms — exact for any ingredient, plus the volume-to-weight conversions for ~40 pantry staples.
OpenTemperature
Fahrenheit, Celsius, gas mark — translate any oven temperature, with notes on conventional vs convection.
OpenCooking time
The cube-root rule for scaling up, the differences between meat / cake / soup geometry, and sensible starting estimates.
OpenPan size
9-inch round vs 8-inch square vs 13×9. The math is surface area, not diameter — and the converter shows you both.
OpenLength
Inches and centimetres — for when a recipe says “cut into 1-inch pieces” and your ruler is metric.
OpenIngredient density
A cup of flour weighs 120 g; a cup of honey weighs 340. The full table of ~40 staples, with sources.
OpenOpen in main scaler
Edit the recipe text, scale by serving count, and copy the result. Same parser as the in-page scaler, more room to work.
OpenFrom the journal
Original essays on the small details.
The why behind the technique — original writing on the ingredient and equipment choices that separate a good cook from a frustrated one.
Reading a recipe like a chef
The 30-or-so recipe terms that show up most often, decoded
Read essayMay 4, 2026
Cooking for one — scaling principles
The math, the practical realities, and the recipes designed for one from the start
Read essayMay 4, 2026
How long do leftovers actually last?
Beyond the USDA's 3–4 days: the variables that actually determine the safe window
Read essayMay 4, 2026
Go deeper
Where this recipe sits in the wider tradition.
Each guide below is a real essay on the cuisine or the category — pillars, staples, techniques worth learning — paired with a curated grid of recipes filed under it.
Ready to cook?
Scale it to your table, then get into the kitchen.
Send this recipe to the main scaler for further editing, or jump straight into Cook Mode for a hands-free walk-through with timers running.