It's only natural that the first Tunisian recipe I write be our typical dish, the couscous. It's a regular meal in the maghreb (Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco) and has become popular in many countries. Couscous stands for the "international" naming, in Tunisia we call it Kosksi (read "kosksee") and that's how I will refer to it during this post (it's my transliteration so you may find other spellings such as "cosksi"). To avoid confusion, it's worth noting that the word kosksi refers to both the dish and the grain product on which it is based.
One more thing, I googled how to cook couscous and results were really laughable for a Tunisian. That's one of the reasons I decided to post the recipe here, so I hope it contributes in making a better world!
Preparation time
- 1h45m
Utensils
- Couscoussière: a kind of steamer, the upper part over the pot is called "keskas", a kind of colander, see the pictures.
- Ladle
- A very large bowl
Ingredients for 8 people[1]
- 1 Kg kosksi
- 8 pieces of meat[2]
- 2 big pieces of pumpkin
- 2 potatoes
- 4 small onions
- 8 peppers
- 100 g soaked chickpeas[3]
- 1 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 1 non full tablespoon salt
- 1 overfilled tablespoon red pepper powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
- some nail cloves (optional)
1. Seen that the preparation is not fast, meals such as kosksi are prepared to be eaten at least one other time after they remain from the first meal, so here 8 people means 2 meals for 4 people.
2. Usually lamb or chicken, but can also be rabbit, camel, cow...
3. Leave the chickpeas in water for half a day
Directions
0:00 pour the oil into the pot and light the stove
pierce each pepper with a knife introducing some salt
0:04 put the pepper into the pot
0:10 remove the pepper
put the meat, onion, chickpeas, salt, red and black pepper powder, stir
0:15 pour two cups of water, preferably hot
add the tomato paste, stir
increase the flame and cover with the keskas
0:25 stir, decrease the flame
0:37 add the pumpkin and potato
add water (still preferably hot), around 4 cups
increase the flame
put the kosksi into a large bowl (optional: some nail cloves)
0:40 the pot content is boiling, take the sauce from the surface 3 times with the ladle and put it on the kosksi, mix
add a cup of water or two into the pot
0:47 put the kosksi into the keskas over the pot
0:50 when vapor starts to break up through the kosksi, you leave it for 45 minutes
1:35 remove the keskas from up the pot and put the kosksi back into the large bowl
take the meat, onion, potato and pumpkin off the pot
add 2 cups of water
1:42 switch off the flame
using the ladle, take the sauce from the pot to the kosksi, mix. Not all the sauce is to be put, only enough for the kosksi not to taste dry.
1:45 ornate the kosksi with the chickpeas, meat, pepper, potato, onion and pumpkin
Notes
- Usually we don't just say kosksi, but "kosksi with something", in this recipe, our something is meat. There are a lot of others somethings: fish, vegetables, "osben", "chebtia", fennel, etc. Preparation sure varies and you can't tell you know kosksi if you only tried one variation.
- Kosksi is usually eaten with "rayeb" or "lben" (at leat in Tunisia), both are fermented milk products.
- The timestamps used in the directions are only indicative, not to be followed with a chronometer!
- When you increase the flame, don't overdo it because eventually that forms a layer of carbon (hard to get rid of) under your pot (or whatever you're cooking on).
Pictures
Shehya tayyba ! (Bon appétit)
Shehya tayyba ! (Bon appétit)