Couscous is basically a North African pasta. I spent a day watching Marie make couscous the traditional way. None of this quick cooking stuff. 3 minute couscous doesn’t cut it for Marie. She made the couscous from scratch. As a side effect of making the couscous you also end up with a soup. The couscous steams above the soup.
Couscous
Ingredients
Ingredients for Soup
- Celery including leaves & root
- Onion
- Turkey wings or other meat
- 2 teaspoons chicken soup mix heaped
- Water lots
- Cabbage chopped big
- Pumpkin chopped big
- Courgettes chopped big
- Carrots chopped big
- Potatoes chopped big
Ingredients for Couscous
- 1 kg semolina
- 1 tablespoon heaped salt
- 5 cups water
- 1/2 cup oil
Instructions
- Make soup in big (pasta) pot with celery, onion, turkey wings, chicken soup mix, and water.
- Mix semolina and salt
- Add 1 cup water gradually1 and mix by hand2
- Add 1/4 cup oil gradually1 and mix by hand2
- Push thru couscous sieve (big mesh)
- Add 1/4 cup oil gradually1 and mix by hand2
- Put couscous in steam tray of soup pot for 1 hour
- Remove from heat
- Mix 4 cups water into couscous and return to steam tray of soup pot
- Add cabbage, pumpkin, courgettes, carrots, and potatoes to soup
- Continue to steam/cook for another hour (May have to add more water to soup)
- Serve couscous, vegetables, and soup water separately
- Soup water is poured over couscous for flavour
Notes
Serve couscous with Chicken or Turkey meatballs, the cooked vegetables from the soup as a side, and the soup.
(1) she pours the water and oil over her hand thus splashing it around
(2) like rolling with her hand
(1) she pours the water and oil over her hand thus splashing it around
(2) like rolling with her hand