Tunisian Couscous

Name: Tunisian Couscous
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Tunisian
Ingredients: 600 g Couscous; 800 g Lamb shoulder, in chunks; 2 Onion, chopped; 3 tbsp Tomato purée; 2 tbsp Harissa; 1.2 kg total Carrots, potatoes, courgette, turnip; 200 g Chickpeas, cooked; 4 tbsp Olive oil; 1 tsp each Ground coriander and caraway; 2 tsp Salt

Steamed semolina under a red, harissa-warmed broth of lamb and vegetables — the Friday dish, served from one big platter for everyone at the table.

Nguồn

Công thức của Tunisian home kitchens · 🏺 Truyền thống · Everyday Tunisian cooking — harissa, olive oil, tuna and eggs, and the semolina that anchors the Friday table from Tunis to Sfax.

Maghrebi · Tunisian version — An ownerless traditional dish, so no cook is credited. The cited article confirms couscous as a North African dish of steamed semolina served with a stew, shared by Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya, which jointly hold its UNESCO intangible-heritage listing. This recipe is the Tunisian version; the note says so rather than implying Tunisian invention. Quantities and method here are this book's own.

Background on Wikipedia ↗

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By Eya Phil Meets Food CC's Kitchen

⏱ 120 phút🍽 6 khẩu phần🔥 640 kcal🇹🇳 Tunisia🌶️🌶️

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Các bước

Brown the lamb in olive oil in the base of a couscoussier or a deep pot. Add the onion and cook until soft.
Stir in the tomato purée, harissa and spices and cook 2 minutes, then cover with 1.5 L water and simmer 45 minutes.
Meanwhile moisten the couscous: rub it with a little water and oil until every grain is damp and separate, then steam it uncovered over the broth for 20 minutes.
💡 Steamed over the broth, not boiled in water — that is the whole difference between real couscous and instant.
Tip the couscous into a bowl, break up the lumps with a fork, sprinkle with a little more water and steam a second time for 15 minutes.
Add the root vegetables to the broth for the last 25 minutes and the courgette and chickpeas for the last 10.
Mound the couscous on a big platter, moisten it with several ladles of broth, and arrange the meat and vegetables on top. Serve the rest of the broth and extra harissa alongside.

💡 Mẹo

Dry couscous is the classic failure. It should be visibly wet with broth before it reaches the table — add more than looks right.
No couscoussier? A metal colander lined with muslin over a stockpot does the same job.
Couscous is Algerian, Moroccan, Libyan and Tunisian alike — the four countries hold a joint UNESCO listing for it. This is the Tunisian version, red with harissa.