You may know that bessara is a fava bean soup eaten in Morocco, particularly in the north. And, you may notice that is a picture of orange lentils on the right, not fava beans. But, bear with me.

My Armenian sister-in-law makes a soup of orange lentils which she calls “Priests’ soup.” Each time I served it to a Moroccan, they swore it was bessara. So, by happy accident I found a way out of the soaking and mashing that a real bessara recipe requires. Even my father-in-law, who used to eat bessara for breakfast when he was a kid in the Rif, thought this soup was bessara. So here follows the recipe for fake bessara/priest’s soup.

Ingredients

• Bag of orange lentils, also known as red split lentils or ulundhu.
• 1-2 chopped onions
• Olive oil
• Salt, cayenne pepper, and cumin

1. Rinse lentils.
2. Put lentils in a large pan and cover with water. Boil. Skim foam off top of boiling lentils and add more water as needed.
3. Sautee chopped onion in olive oil until it is soft and golden.
4. When the lentils are cooked, which takes about 20 minutes, they will be mushy. No need for hand mashing, yea!
5. Stir in the caramelized onion. Add salt to taste.
6. Serve with fresh bread and olive oil, cumin, and cayenne pepper as condiments.