Chef Zohra
Berkoukes (بركوكس)
My frontier's Mawlid bowl: large hand-rolled semolina pearls swelling in a tomato-lamb broth, scented with saffron and ras el hanout, made to feed one more guest.
Culinary Explorer
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Adss (عدس)
Created by
Brown lentils cooked down until thick and glossy, with garlic, tomato, cumin, paprika, and good olive oil. This is weeknight Moroccan comfort, made for bread and one more bowl.
Soups & Stews
Moroccan
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
Weeknight
10 min
Active Time
50 min cook•1 hr total
Yield4 to 6 servings
The lentils tell you when they're ready. At first they roll loose in the pot, small and stubborn, then they begin to give way, thickening the broth until the spoon leaves a soft trail behind it. That's the point of adss: not a thin soup, not a purée, but a stew you can scoop with khobz and eat from the same table as everyone else.
Cook it gently and salt it with patience. Lentils need enough water to soften without drowning, and the tomato, garlic, cumin, and paprika need time to settle into the grain. If you rush the boil, the skins split before the inside turns tender. If you let it simmer, the sauce becomes its own bread-worthy thing.
This is winter cooking, budget cooking, weeknight cooking, and still you don't make it carelessly. La balance est dans les yeux, the scale is in the eyes: a little more cumin when the pot smells flat, a thread of olive oil at the end when it asks for shine. Make enough for the neighbor who smells it from the hall. Une table, c'est une porte qu'on laisse ouverte.
Lentils have been grown around the Mediterranean and North Africa since antiquity, moving through Amazigh agrarian cooking, Arab trade routes, and the everyday kitchens of Moroccan towns long before restaurant menus wrote them down. In Morocco, adss is not tied to one imperial city the way pastilla is tied to Fez; it belongs to the household repertoire, with Oujda, Fassi, Amazigh, and Jewish-Moroccan tables each seasoning it a little differently. Exact dating is not useful here, but the dish's place is clear: winter, bread, olive oil, and a pot that feeds more people than planned.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
brown or green lentils
Quantity
300g
picked over and rinsed
olive oil
Quantity
3 tbsp, plus more for finishing
onion
Quantity
1 medium
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
minced or grated
ripe tomatoes or canned crushed tomatoes
Quantity
2 ripe tomatoes or 200g canned
grated if fresh
tomato paste
Quantity
1 tbsp
ground cumin
Quantity
2 tsp, plus more to finish
sweet paprika
Quantity
1 tsp
ground turmeric
Quantity
1/2 tsp
ground black pepper
Quantity
1/4 tsp
fresh coriander and parsley
Quantity
1 small bunch
finely chopped
water
Quantity
1.25 litres, plus more as needed
sea salt
Quantity
1 1/2 tsp, or to taste
round khobz
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| brown or green lentilspicked over and rinsed | 300g |
| olive oil | 3 tbsp, plus more for finishing |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 medium |
| garlic clovesminced or grated | 4 |
| ripe tomatoes or canned crushed tomatoesgrated if fresh | 2 ripe tomatoes or 200g canned |
| tomato paste | 1 tbsp |
| ground cumin | 2 tsp, plus more to finish |
| sweet paprika | 1 tsp |
| ground turmeric | 1/2 tsp |
| ground black pepper | 1/4 tsp |
| fresh coriander and parsleyfinely chopped | 1 small bunch |
| water | 1.25 litres, plus more as needed |
| sea salt | 1 1/2 tsp, or to taste |
| round khobz | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 3 litre pot or clay cooking pot
- •Wooden spoon
- •Wide serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Wake the base
Warm the olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it softens and turns pale gold at the edges, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for one minute, just until it smells alive, not browned.
- 2
Settle the spices
Stir in the grated tomato, tomato paste, cumin, paprika, turmeric, black pepper, and half the chopped herbs. Cook until the tomato darkens a little and the oil begins to show at the edge of the pot, 5 to 7 minutes. This matters because raw tomato keeps the stew sharp, and adss should taste round.
- 3
Simmer the lentils
Add the rinsed lentils and water, then bring the pot to a steady simmer. Lower the heat, cover partly, and cook for 35 to 45 minutes, stirring now and then, until the lentils are tender all the way through. Keep an eye on the water: the lentils should stay covered at first, then thicken as they finish.
Don't salt hard at the beginning. Add a little if you like, then finish the seasoning once the lentils are tender, so the skins don't stay tight. - 4
Thicken the pot
When the lentils are tender, uncover the pot and simmer 8 to 10 minutes more, stirring often, until the stew is thick enough that a spoon leaves a path for a second. Mash a small ladleful against the side of the pot if you want more body, but don't turn it into a purée.
- 5
Finish and serve
Taste for salt and cumin. Stir in the remaining herbs, then finish with a good thread of olive oil and a small pinch of cumin over the top. Serve hot in a wide bowl with round khobz for scooping.
Chef Tips
- •Use brown or green lentils that still look whole and fresh. Old lentils take too long to soften, and no gesture rescues a tired ingredient.
- •This isn't a ras el hanout dish. Keep the spice grammar clear: cumin leads, paprika warms, turmeric colors softly, and the tomato gives body.
- •If the stew thickens too much before the lentils are tender, add hot water by the small glass, not a flood. You want a stew for bread, not lentils swimming alone.
- •Adss is even better the next day. Reheat it gently with a splash of water and finish again with olive oil.
Advance Preparation
- •Pick over and rinse the lentils earlier in the day, then leave them drained until cooking.
- •Cook the whole stew up to 2 days ahead. It thickens in the fridge, so loosen it with water as it reheats.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 400g)
Calories
485 calories
Total Fat
13 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
960 mg
Total Carbohydrates
71 g
Dietary Fiber
12 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
21 g
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