Recipe - Basics For Couscous

NO INGREDIENTS HERE

SEE RECIPE FOR

LAMB COUSCOUS WITH 7
VEGETABLES.

There must be seven vegetables, never fewer usually onion, carrot, green
peppers, courgettes, turnip, white cabbage, aubergine. An eighth is
essential, tomato.

The lamb, too, is crucial. Tender 2 month old lamb is best, because it is
tender. It is skinny. It has no fat, but is has the flavour of the herbs it
feeds on, thyme, rosemary, wild fennel.

Basically, everything cooks in the pot for an hour, but the hard vegetables
go in first and the tender vegetables for the last 20 minutes. That's it.
It cooks at a rolling boil, and there's the rub. For the last half hour,
the couscous has to be cooked in a colander above it, where it steams.

We have problems trying to mimic this. For a start, we can't buy the
quality of couscous he uses; one which readily takes on the flavours of the
stew steaming underneath, and absorbs a certain amount of butter.

Most couscous sold in Britain, and France too, is precooked, so follow the
instructions on the packet. (Note, if it is too robustely steamed it will
cook to a mush suitable only for invalids.) But for interest, should you be
able to obtain authentic grain, this is how he cooks it. (Middle Eastern
shops should stock it. It has a gutsy texture and character.)

This is what Monsieur Boujeema Mars, eminent chef des cuisines, La
Mamounia, Marrakech, Morrocco, does: There are three stages. He wets 12
ounces of couscous with one cup of water only. He lines a colander (which
fits over his stew pan) with muslin, and put the couscous inside. Using the
muslin, he ensures a tight seal between pan and colander. He places the lid
loosely on top and steams the couscous for 10 minutes. He removes the
colander, stirs in a knob of butter, adds another cup of water, and steams
it a further ten minutes. He repeats the process a third time, making the
cooking time 30 minutes in all.
Posted to EATL Digest 21 Jul 96

Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 13:54:50 EDT

From: erika metzieder 100627.3022@COMPUSERVE.COM
NOTES : Monsieur Boujeema Mars, chef des cuisines of La Mamounia,
Marrakech,
Morocco, gave this recipe to the Independent. See also "Basics on
Couscous".