Hergma
Maghrebi trotter stew
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hergma[a] (Arabic: الهركمة, lit. 'trotter' (synecdoche);[3] Moroccan Arabic: كرعين, romanized: kerʻine;[4][b] Algerian Arabic: لوبيا بالكرعين, romanized: loubia bil kerʻine;[6] Standard Moroccan Tamazight: ⵉⴼⵏⵣⴰ, ifenza[7]) is a Maghrebi cuisine stew featuring stewed trotters. The dish is largely cooked on Eid al-Adha with the trotters of the sacrificial animal, but also served year-round at souks, and enjoyed during Ramadan.[2] In Moroccan cuisine, hergma is a tagine; in Tunisian cuisine, hergma is a lablabi featuring other offal along with the trotters, such as heart and tripe.
Moroccan-style hergma | |
| Alternative names | kerʻine |
|---|---|
| Type | stew (offal); tagine/lablabi |
| Associated cuisine | Maghrebi cuisine |
| Created by | Mizrahi Jews |
| Main ingredients | trotters |
| Ingredients generally used | wheatberries, chickpeas |
| Similar dishes | |
Preparation and consumption
The trotters are considered a core ingredient due to the gelatin that emulsifies into the broth, making it thick. Trotters used include cow's trotters, sheep's trotters or goat's trotters; pig's trotters are haram/treif. Hergma is served as a street food at souks as well as a breakfast food; it is eaten by hand with khobz.[2][5]
In Algerian cuisine, hergma (loubia bil kerʻine), particularly in Algiers, is made with beans and lentils. It is typically served alongside babbouche, a snail dish.[6] In Moroccan cuisine, the dish is a type of tagine, baked in an earthenware pot; a typical recipe for Moroccan hergma is sheep's trotters with wheatberries, chickpeas and raisins.[5][8] In Tunisian cuisine, hergma is a soupier lablabi featuring other offal along the trotters, such as heart and tripe.[2][9]
History
Hergma is descended from the Sephardic cuisine dish hamin (adafina), a Sabbath stew brought by Jewish expats to the Maghreb from the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain.[5][10] The term "harqma" was documented in the 1505 Vocabulista arauigo en letra castellana by Pedro de Alcalá; definitions included cow's trotters, ratatouille, intestines, and butcher's scraps.[2][11]
Hergma was a favorite dish of Hassan II of Morocco.[2]
See also
- bouzellouf a.k.a. bacha, an Algerian cuisine stewed sheep's head, sometimes with sheep's trotters, popular in Annaba[12]
