Couscous Tfaya

Morocco's supreme dish: hand-rolled semolina wheat couscous steamed three times over a fragrant broth of lamb and chickpeas, then crowned with tfaya: a jammy, deeply caramelised crown of onions and raisins cooked low and slow with saffron, ginger and ras el hanout, scattered with toasted almonds. Couscous is the soul of Maghrebi cuisine and one of wheat's greatest transformations.

Origin: Fez & Marrakech, Morocco

From the journey of Wheat.

Couscous (from the Berber word seksu) is the culinary creation of the Berber people of North Africa, predating the Arab conquest by centuries. The earliest descriptions appear in a 13th-century Arabic cookbook from Al-Andalus. The technique (steaming tiny pellets of hand-rolled semolina in the perforated upper section of a couscoussier while the broth bubbles below) is uniquely North African. Couscous was traditionally made by women, rolling the semolina into pellets by hand with the circular motion of the palm; a process that took hours. Friday couscous is sacred across Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya. UNESCO inscribed couscous as Intangible Heritage in 2020.

Ingredients

  • 500 g medium couscous (semolina)
  • for steaming Water and salt
  • 50 g butter
  • 800 g lamb shoulder, cut into large pieces
  • 400 g chickpeas, cooked
  • 2 Onion, quartered
  • 2 tsp ras el hanout
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • large pinch Saffron, soaked in warm water
  • 4 large onions, thinly sliced
  • 100 g raisins (for tfaya)
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 80 g blanched almonds, toasted

Method

  1. Season the couscous with salt and a little oil. Steam over boiling water in a couscoussier (or colander set over a pot) for 20 minutes. Turn out, break up lumps, rest 5 minutes. Steam twice more; three steamings total.
  2. Meanwhile, brown the lamb in oil. Add quartered onions, ras el hanout, ginger, saffron and water to cover. Simmer 1.5 hours until tender. Add chickpeas for the final 20 minutes.
  3. For tfaya: cook sliced onions in butter and oil very slowly for 40 minutes until deep gold. Add raisins, honey, cinnamon and a ladle of the broth. Cook 20 minutes more until jammy and fragrant.
  4. After the third steaming, toss couscous with butter and ladle over enough broth to moisten.
  5. Mound couscous on a large platter. Place lamb and chickpeas in the centre. Crown with the tfaya and scatter almonds. Serve remaining broth on the side.
The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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