What soups does Morocco have besides harira (chorba, hssoua)?

Harira gets all the fame, but Morocco has a whole comforting world of soups behind it, and they're some of the most authentic, affordable food in the country. Each region and season has its own, and the common thread is that they're finished simply and generously — a deep swirl of good olive oil, a dusting of cumin, fresh coriander and a squeeze of lemon — so that a humble pot becomes deeply satisfying.

Bissara is the one I send everyone to find. It's a thick, velvety purée of dried fava beans (sometimes split peas) cooked down with garlic until smooth, then served with a well of olive oil poured over the top, cumin, paprika and a pinch of chilli if you like heat. It's winter breakfast and street food rolled into one — on cold mornings in Fes, Chefchaouen and the north you'll see hole-in-the-wall places ladling it to workers for a few dirhams, the steam rising, and it costs almost nothing for a meal that genuinely sets you up for the day.

Chorba is the lighter, brothier cousin — a clear, fragrant soup with vegetables, often a little meat, and small pasta or vermicelli, gently spiced and easy to love. Hssoua (or hsoua) is the soothing one: a soft soup thickened with barley or wheat flour, sometimes made milky, eaten for breakfast or to break a fast and beloved for being gentle on the stomach. And there are honest everyday lentil soups and whatever-is-in-season vegetable soups, each one lifted by that same finishing ritual of oil, cumin and lemon.

My advice is to treat soup as breakfast at least once, the Moroccan way. Find a busy bissara counter on a cool morning, order a bowl with extra oil and cumin, add bread and chilli, and you'll understand a whole side of Moroccan eating that visitors usually miss. It's nourishing, dirt-cheap, and quietly one of my favourite ways to start a day here.