How do you make really good couscous?
I always feel a little guilty when I make couscous the quick supermarket way. Simply because I know it would be so much tastier with more time and attention. At the same time: on a Tuesday evening, I simply don’t feel like spending hours steaming and rubbing it. Luckily, there’s also a middle ground.
On the TV program Keuringsdienst van Waarde, they quickly reached a conclusion: couscous made the traditional way — rolling, steaming, rolling, steaming, and even more rolling and steaming (like this) — is far tastier than couscous made the quick way — pour water over it, let it soak, and it’s done.
Soaking is torment, Nadia Zerouali, co-author of the wonderful cookbook Souq, tafels vol mezze, agrees. Couscous must be steamed! Here you can read and see why Nadia believes that this is the very best way.
Middle ground
Well, does that mean you should plan ahead more often and make a large batch of ‘real’ couscous at the weekend? You can. But you don’t have to. Claudia Roden, a `culinary anthropologist’ and expert on Arab cuisine, has the solution. A way of preparing couscous that doesn’t take hours, but is genuinely good.
Without embarrassment
Okay, in her book The Book of Middle Eastern Food, she still prepares it the traditional way. But in The Jewish Cooking she admits: “I make couscous in the easiest way, without any embarrassment.” That means: use slightly more water than couscous, let it soak, add some oil once the water has been absorbed, rub the couscous loose, and heat it up. “For a large group of people, I heat the couscous in the oven, in the same earthenware dish in which I serve the couscous. Nothing could be simpler.” And if Claudia Roden says so, it must be true.
Also read:
- Bulgur, freekeh, or couscous: what are the differences?
- Mediterranean chicken stew with couscous
- Stocking the pantry #2: Morocco
