MOROCCAN FAMOUS COUSCOUS

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INGREDIENTS Serve 4 to 6

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1 large onion chopped (200g)

  • 600g braising beef or lamb (off the bone), trimmed of excess fat. (i.e. lamb shoulder, cracked lamb shank, lamb or beef neck, beef shin). If your meat is on the bone, take into account the weight of the bone and make sure you get about 125g of meat per person

  • 125g dried chickpeas soaked in cold water overnight and drained (or 250g canned chickpeas, drained)

  • 2 teaspoons salt

  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger

  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

  • Generous pinch of saffron

  • 1 coriander bouquet, tied

  • 2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped in 2 cm large pieces

  • 1 small cabbage (600g), quartered through the base

  • 1 large sweet potato (250g), peeled and cut into large chunks

  • 300g turnip, peeled and cut into 3 cm lengths

  • 3 carrots (300g), scraped and cut into 4 cm lengths

  • 200g courgettes cut into 5 cm lengths (not necessary for baby courgettes)

  • 300g butternut squash or pumpkin, seeded if necessary and cut into large chunks

  • 4 cups dried couscous (650g)

METHOD

• In a large casserole (minimum 5 litres capacity), heat the olive oil over medium heat and add in the onions, meat, spices, salt, pepper and tomato pieces. Turn the meat occasionally until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

• Add 1.5 litres of water and the chickpeas. Bring to the boil, reduce to medium low heat and place the coriander bouquet in the casserole. Cover with a lid and let gently simmer for 50 minutes. Meanwhile,prepare the vegetables and set them aside until ready to use.

• Now would a good time to start preparing the raisins and the couscous. The raisin recipe is below and the plain couscous recipe is here. The raisins are optional but if you like sweet and savoury dishes, you will love this addition.

• Carefully discard the coriander bouquet and place the cabbage, turnip and carrots in the broth, cover the casserole with a lid and leave to simmer for 35 minutes. Make sure the vegetables don't stay at the surface and are inserted in the broth, otherwise they might not cook evenly.

• Add the potatoes to the broth and cover the casserole with a lid for another 20 minutes. 

• Meanwhile, place some of the broth (about 6 tablespoons) in a separate casserole or large deep skillet over medium heat and add in the courgettes and butternut pieces. Cover with a lid and cook for 20 minutes until fully cooked. Flip the courgettes and butternut halfway through cooking. The reason why we cook the courgettes and the butternut separately is because once cooked, they become very fragile and they might break if you cook them in the broth with the rest of the vegetables.

• At this stage, your broth and vegetables are ready to be served. Adjust the seasoning by adding salt if necessary.

• Using tongs, carefully remove the meat from the casserole and cut the meat into smaller individual pieces. To serve, place warm couscous grains in a large plate and top with meat, vegetables and some tablespoons of the broth to make it moist. Add raisins (optional).

Notes

• As you can see, I used a regular casserole for this recipe as opposed to a couscousiere. In my opinion it saves a lot of time and hassle to cook the broth and the couscous grain separately and there isn’t much difference in the taste. I also assume that the majority if you don’t own a couscousière, it will be too bad not to enjoy Moroccan couscous because of that.

• Keep the meat in large pieces when you place it in the casserole at the beginning of the recipe. Small pieces of meat will get even smaller after hours of slow cooking and you might struggle to find them in the broth once they are cooked.

• In Morocco, people traditionally season the couscous grains with "smen" when preparing them. Smen is a type of salted fermented butter and has a very distinctive taste.

• Feel free to play around with the recipe and add or use different vegetables. Moroccans traditionally use 7 vegetables because “7” is a lucky number in Moroccan culture.

•  Make sure to insert the vegetables at the right time so the meat and the vegetables will be ready at the same time. The way I calculate the cooking time for the vegetable is very simple. I assume that the meat will take about 2 hours to cook (or more for some cuts). I leave the meat to cook in the broth (with the chickpeas, onions, tomatoes…) until it is time to insert the vegetables so they will be ready at the same time as the meat. Keep in my mind that some vegetables cook faster than others.

• Use quinoa instead of couscous grains for a gluten free version of the 7 vegetables couscous. If you are on a vegetarian diet, omit the meat. If you like, spicy like me, add a teaspoon of harissa to your plate.

• You can keep the couscous grains, the broth, the meat, the vegetables and the raisins for up to 3 days in the fridge. 

Enjoy

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