When we lived in Tangier, my children liked to join our housekeeper, Fatima, and her husband, Ahmed, during month-long Ramadan, when they broke their traditional daytime fast by feasting on harira, a rich and hearty North African soup. This culinary event took place every evening just moments after a cannon was fired in the port of Tangier to signal the official end of daylight.

Their highly aromatic harira, made with lamb, chickpeas,