Couscous Tfaya (Sweet Onion & Raisin Couscous)

Name: Couscous Tfaya (Sweet Onion & Raisin Couscous)
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 5
Cuisine: Moroccan
Ingredients: 500 g Couscous; 900 g Bone-in chicken, in pieces; 700 g Onions; 120 g Raisins; 80 g Blanched almonds; 2 tsp Ground cinnamon; 2 tbsp (40 g) Honey; 1 tsp Ground ginger; 1 tsp Ground turmeric; Saffron threads; 60 g Butter or olive oil; 45 ml Olive oil; 1 L Water; 1 1/2 tsp Salt

Steamed couscous crowned with tfaya — onions cooked down slow with cinnamon, honey and raisins until jammy — over spiced chicken, with fried almonds for crunch.

Fonte

Ricetta di Moroccan home kitchens · 🏺 Tradizionale · Moroccan household cooking

Moroccan home cooking — Tfaya is a sweet Moroccan sauce of caramelized onions, raisins, cinnamon and honey, most often served over couscous with chicken or lamb. Couscous itself is the Berber Friday dish across the Maghreb. There is no single author; the sweetness and the meat under the tfaya vary household to household.

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Passaggi

Brown the chicken in the olive oil with 200 g of the onions, the ginger, turmeric, saffron water and salt, then add 1 L water and simmer, covered, 45 minutes until tender.
Meanwhile make the tfaya: cook the remaining sliced onions very slowly in a wide pan with a splash of the chicken broth, the cinnamon and a pinch of salt, stirring now and then, for 30 minutes.
💡 Low and slow is the whole secret to tfaya. You want the onions collapsed to a soft, dark tangle — if they colour too fast, add a spoon of broth and drop the heat.
Stir the soaked raisins and the honey into the onions and cook 10 minutes more, until glossy and jammy. Taste — it should be sweet with a savoury edge.
Steam the couscous: moisten the grains with a little salted water and oil, rake with your fingers, then steam over the simmering broth for 15 minutes. Repeat the moisten-and-steam once more.
💡 Steaming twice, raking with oiled fingers between rounds, is what keeps couscous light and separate. Boiling it like rice glues the grains into a paste.
Fork the butter through the hot couscous and mound it on a large platter, hollowing a well in the centre.
Sit the chicken in the well, spoon the tfaya over the top, and scatter with the fried almonds. Serve extra broth on the side.

💡 Consigli

Tfaya is the sweet-savoury topping that defines this couscous. If you have never had cinnamon and honey over meat, trust it — the sweetness plays against the savoury chicken exactly the way it does in a Persian or Moroccan feast dish.
Instant couscous can be used if you cannot steam: pour over an equal volume of boiling salted stock, cover 5 minutes, then fork through the butter. It is a shortcut, but the tfaya carries the plate.