(c) Dorine Houston 2008, all rights reserved
Malaga, Spain may have been the place, but the fragrance was pure Morocco, a seductive lure into the kitchen where steam puffed out from under a painted pottery lid, my first introduction to the couscousiere essential to the North African homemaker's kitchen equipment. My friends were Americans, a family with offspring about my age, two of whom had actually been born in Morocco and the eldest, my age exactly, was bon in Switzerland. They had lived in Meknes, Morocco for nearly 20 years before being expelled from the country for the high crime of being Christians in an officially Muslim nation, and in 1969 they had settled in Malaga, just across the Mediterranean.
Mrs. Y. introduced me to the pleasures of Moroccan cooking, and I found it enthusiastically approved of by their Moroccan friends who were either expats in Spain or were free to take the short boat trip to Algeciras followed by a train to Malaga. While we ate the fragrant Moroccan dishes in their house, we did not sit on the floor around a tablecloth spread there, but we did eat with our fingers, and I was taught basic courtesy: Use only the thumb and first two fingers, and do not get your fingers dirty above the first knuckle. Take a ball of couscous from the edge of the platter and use it to form a small scoop. With this edible scoop, take up some of the sauced mixture, being polite enough to take only from the area of the platter directly in front of you rather than hopping all over the platter.
After a dinner of couscous, like all Moroccans, we always had a small cup of boiling hot, heavily sweetened mint to aid the digestion. It is not good form to blow on the tea or to wait for it to cool. One must inhale it fast, in one gulp, with a sharp intake of air to shield the surface of the tongue from the heat required to aid digestion. The Moroccan friends told me that that traditionally, it had been considered polite to express appreciation for good cooking with a loud belch, but that modern manners had changed. While peasants still kept the custom, educated people in the cities has French manners, and they were as quick as any American to rebuke their children if they belched.
Couscous is made with semolina flour (the high gluten kind that is used to make good Italian pasta. Women in such North African countries as Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia traditionally spent a good part of their days rolling it by hand, but nowadays, it s sold ready-made. North African couscous is fine of grain, somewhat larger than coarse cornmeal or grits. Israeli couscous is substantially larger, balls about the diameter of half the length of orzo. Couscous refers to both the prepared semolina grains and to a variety of stews made to serve over it. Mrs. Y. was well armed with Moroccan cooking and serving items, the couscousiere and the large, deep, round platter for serving it, painted in beautiful Moroccan patterns.
Couscous can be made entirely with fruits and vegetables, or it can be made with meat, poultry or fish. Lamb, I was told, is by far the most popular meat. Pork is forbidden in Islam and beef is simply not as well-liked as lamb across North Africa and throughout the Middle East. Lamb's popularity outranks that of poultry and fish combined. It is lamb that makes so many Magreb and Middle Eastern dishes to exceptionally tasty!
It is nice to have a couscousiere, but many readers are unlikely to use one often enough to justify the expense or may feel that they do not have the storage space for seldom-used equipment. If you have a deep pot with a steamer basket that sits on the lip that holds the lid, it is a perfect solution. Another solution is to set a strainer on that lip. If the holes in the steamer are too big to retain the grains of couscous, line it with a layer of cheesecloth. The stew cooks in the bottom of the pan. The steam that rises from it cooks the couscous grains above.
Part of the special flavor of couscous comes from za'atar, but if you cannot find any in a spice vendor's near you or on the Internet, combine dried sumac, oregano and thyme with toasted sesame seeds. You may want to order it from Spice Corner or Spice Terminal in Philadelphia.
Over the years, I have enjoyed numerous versions of couscous, many made either by actual North Africans or by Mrs. Y, and some made by French friends who lived in North Africa before its nations gained their independence from France. The recipe below is my own, created in the spirit of the many authentically North African couscous recipes I have loved.
Lamb and Pomegranate Couscous chez Dorine
(c) Dorine Houston 2008, all rights reserved
6 oz./160g dry chickpeas, soaked overnight
4 T./60ml good olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
6-8 large cloves garlic (not elephant garlic), chopped
1 tsp./5ml whole cumin seeds, coarsely crushed in mortar and pestle or between 2 spoons (do not used ground cumin!)
2 quarts/2 litres water
1 lb./450g lamb, cut into cubes smaller than 1cm/1/2"
2 oz./60g dried apricots, diced small
1 T./15ml za'atar
2 zucchini, diced
1 small red or purple onion, sliced thinly into rings
Seeds of 2 pomegranates
Fresh cilantro
Remember that it is important to cut very small cubes of lamb since the dish is meant to be eaten using grain scoops rolled between an individual's thumb and first two finders. Normal US stew cubes are far too big for this.
Heat the olive oil in the bottom of the couscousiere or substitute pot and add the onion and carrots. As they are just beginning to turn golden, add the garlic and cumin. Cook until they are barely golden. Remember that overcooked garlic becomes bitter. Add the water and chickpeas. Cover tightly and allow to simmer for 30 minutes. Remember two things that affect the quality of legumes: They must not boil, and if the pot threatens to do so, add a splash of cold water; and no salt or acidic food can be added since they keep the legumes from cooking tender. Add the lamb, apricots and za'atar. Place the couscous above the lamb mixture and drizzle it with extra virgin olive oil; simmer another hour, tightly covered. Add the zucchini and simmer a final half hour.
Check the couscous grains for doneness; continue simmering the pot if necessary. When ready, mound the couscous in a deep, round platter and make a well in the middle, pushing the remainder to the edges.
Taste the lamb stew mixture and add salt and pepper. Add more za'atar if needed. Ladle the mixture into the well of couscous. Scatter pomegranate seeds on top. Arrange onion rings and cilantro sprigs around the sides, making sure to leave bare couscous in reach of each diner.
Steep mint leaves to serve as boiling hot tea afterwards.
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Comments: 22
I'm back, for good or ill. There's many good things I found in this article, which I didn't note.
I didn't cite it, but you use 'remember' a lot in the second half. Now, remember, to follow is simply my opinion, and doesn't represent the management, advertisers or anyone else.
The piece is lively enough. I like the background and tidbits. I think you could shorten the paragraphs up a bit.
was bon in Switzerland -- born
expats ex-pats? Might consider writing out expatriates for people like me.
Careful of little additions or asides that are redundant or obvious:
While we ate the fragrant Moroccan dishes (in their house)
This passage is nice. Tight, descriptive (I'd separate it from the previous sentence, but that's just me):
Use only the thumb and first two fingers, and do not get your fingers dirty above the first knuckle. Take a ball of couscous from the edge of the platter and use it to form a small scoop. With this edible scoop, take up some of the sauced mixture, being polite enough to take only from the area of the platter directly in front of you rather than hopping all over the platter.
One must inhale it fast, in one gulp, with a sharp intake of air to shield the surface of the tongue from the heat (required to aid digestion.) I know you're trying to be clear as to why the tea needs to be hot, but you do mention this in the sentence before.
The that that is awkward: "The Moroccan friends told me that that traditionally, it had been considered polite to express appreciation for good cooking with a loud belch, but that modern manners had changed." Most of the time, we can cut 'that' out, and have a sentence with better flow.
You might want to consider 'The Moroccan friends told me...' To something like: "I learned from the Moroccan friends." I'm a visual person. I image the friends singing together like a Greek choirs.
Might wish to find a better word than 'peasant' and 'educated' --While peasants still kept the custom, educated people in the cities has French manners, and they were as quick as any American to rebuke their children if they belched.
I do like this cultural interjection. I think it could be more PC.
educated people in the cities has (have) French manners
The ( never gets closed: (the high gluten kind. . . -- However, you could use a comma just as easily as ().
Likely a Gather error: it s (it's) sold ready-made.
Something's wrong here:
North African couscous is fine of (I think this 'of') grain, somewhat* larger than coarse cornmeal or grits
somewhat larger is vague. You could omit somewhat for better reading flow.
Couscous refers to both the prepared semolina grains and (to)a variety of stews made to serve over it.
(It is)lamb (that) makes so many Magreb and Middle Eastern dishes to (so) exceptionally tasty!
You can simplify this:
Lamb makes so many Magreb and Middle Eastern dishes so exceptionally tasty!
It is nice to have a couscousiere... A couscousiere is nice to have...
may feel that (this 'that' can be omitted) they do not have the storage space for seldom-used equipment.
find any in a spice vendor's (vendor) near you
It seems to me this could be said better:
You may want to order it from Spice Corner or Spice Terminal in Philadelphia.
something like:
Za'atar can be ordered from ....
Remember (that) it is important to cut very small (very small tells me nothing -- how about size it to a common object, such as a sugar cube?) cubes of lamb since the dish is meant to be eaten using grain scoops rolled between an individual's thumb and first two finders. Normal US (U.S.) stew cubes are far too big for this.
Though this list of two things is soundly written, I got lost with the dropped-in solution to the first thing before listing the second.
Remember two things that affect the quality of legumes: They must not boil, and if the pot threatens to do so, add a splash of cold water; and no salt or acidic food can be added since they keep the legumes from cooking tender.
an individual's thumb and first two finders.(fingers) You could replace 'an individual's' with 'the'
Unfortunately, I may have to substitute something (anything!) for the lamb, or it won't get served in my house. If I used portobello mushrooms instead of lamb, this would be a vegan recipe - interesting!
signed
Somebody
Richard, thanks for the suggestion for getting around Gather's problems. Will your picky eater consider this recipe with chicken or goose? The mushroom variation certainly sounds delicious! It may even be a good dish to take to the potluck at church next Saturday! I like to take something vegetarian to the potlucks, something that is acceptable and still tasty to the rest of us carnivores.
To do the ragout article justice I'll have to cook it - we'll see. Maybe hell will freeze over soon - it is winter after all!
I see where you sing in a choir, too--or at least you mentioned being at choir practice. Another interest we share! I'd like to hear more about it!
First, the word formatting issues come and go here. Hang in there. It isn't your editing.
Next, I wrote a comment on another article of yours, lauding your courage in asking how you could improve your writing. From what I've read here, I think you do a wonderful job. I am no food writer or expert but I liked what I read.
However, I do recommend Laurie Colwin, now deceased, as a food writer. She wrote novels as well but her food writing, often for Gourmet magazine, had its own style and verve. She is worth reading.