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Sharba Libya

A hearty Libyan soup made with lamb or beef, vegetables, chickpeas, pasta, and aromatic spices.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 24 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 10,172 recipes mention both. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

The recipe

Total1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Build the base

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped onion and minced garlic, and sauté until translucent and fragrant.

  3. Add the diced lamb or beef cubes to the pot and cook until browned on all sides. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

  4. Once the meat is browned, add the diced carrots, potatoes, celery, green and red bell peppers, zucchini, green peas, and chickpeas to the pot. Stir well to combine with the meat.

  5. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, coriander, salt, and pepper to the pot. Stir to coat the ingredients with the spices and tomato paste.

  6. Pour enough water into the pot to cover all the ingredients.

Simmer and finish

  1. Bring the soup to a boil.

  2. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and let it simmer for about 1 hour. In the meantime, cook the macaroni or small pasta according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside.

  3. After the soup has simmered for an hour, taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper if needed.

  4. Add the cooked macaroni or small pasta to the soup and stir to incorporate. Let the soup simmer for another 10 minutes to allow the pasta to absorb the flavors.

  5. Remove the pot from the heat.

  6. Ladle into serving bowls and garnish with fresh chopped parsley or cilantro. Serve the soup hot with crusty bread on the side.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Onion + potatotop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Carrot + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,105 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lamb or beef
Provides savory depth and protein, browned for flavor before simmering.
Tomato paste
Adds concentrated tomato flavor, color and a touch of sweetness and acidity.
Chickpeas
Hold their shape during simmering and add body and substance to the soup.
Potatoes
Break down slightly as they cook, thickening the broth and adding body.
Macaroni
Absorbs flavorful broth as it finishes cooking, adding body to each serving.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it cooks, forming the flavor base with garlic.

The step that matters

Browning the meat. Searing the meat over medium heat until browned on all sides creates Maillard flavors that a soft, pale start cannot give the broth later.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, lamb, garlic, carrot, potato, celery, pepper):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Spinachabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, lamb, garlic, carrot, potato, celery, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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