Couscous Recipe- And No. It’s NOT What You Think

When I came to the US, I noticed that the Kosher departments in the groceries stores contained products that I did not really recognize.
On Rosh Hashanah, duck sauce and matzah are appearing on the shelves. On Hanukah you can find candles and matzah. And you can find there on a regular basis strange jams, weird pimpled pickles that I never saw before, and almond candies that were served on weddings in the 1980s in Israel.

I didn’t do groceries shopping in LA or New York, or anywhere else where there are many Israelis, but where I was, the Kosher department was poor and disappointed.
The lack of understanding of what so-called Jewish products made me join to a group of Jewish cooking on Facebook.

Honestly?- I was surprised by the recipes and the pictures of the dishes they publish in the group – many of them I did not recognize – is that Jewish food?

One of the things that I couldn’t understand is the couscous issue. What’s is the couscous issue you ask? Every Kosher department have a box of “Ptitim”- which translate to “flakes”, but on the box the name is couscous. Flakes are not couscous. It’s like saying that oranges and apples are the same thing.

This post will combine two posts: one on Ptitim- flakes and the other on couscous.
This post is about couscous.

Couscous is a North African dish. There is a dispute between the Moroccans and the Tunisians, which of them deserves credit, but the truth? It does not matter.
The couscous is made from semolina, which is induced with water and a little oil and then steamed in a special pot. The stunning result is the perfect thin flakes of couscous

Usually the couscous is served with soup – so you won’t choke by it.

In Israel there is an instant couscous – and I am not an instant person, but the instant couscous is so good that I never bothered to learn how to make a real couscous in the authentic- traditional technique.
Here, in the US, I have no instant couscous, fortunately, I came across this post of Shiri, in which she explains how to make authentic couscous, using a simple (none authentic) technique.

The couscous soup recipe is my cousin’s, Maayan – and in my opinion is the best so I’m sharing it with you.

For the couscous:

2 cups of semolina

2 cups of hot water

1/4 cup of olive oil

 

For preparing the soup

1  onion – cut into small cubes

3  carrots – sliced ​​into slices

300  gr. of pumpkin – coarsely cut

1  sweet potato – cut into small cubes

1  potato – cut into small cubes

3  zucchini – cut into coarse pieces

Quarter celery (with the leaves) – sliced ​​into slices

2  leeks (without the green part) slices into slices

2  cups of cooked chickpeas

1  tablespoon of paprika

150 gr. Og tomato paste

1/4 teaspoon of turmeric spoon

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoon of olive oil

Preparation of the couscous

1. Put the semolina, the oil and salt in a bowel that suitable for the microwave, mix well with a fork until all the semolina grains are coated with oil

2. Add 2 cups of boiling water and mix until the water spread evenly.  Cover with microwave food cover plate, and place the bowl in the microwave for 4 minutes.

3. Carefully remove the cover and with a fork “plow” semolina in the bowl. The goal is to prevent lumps in the semolina- the less lumps we will have it would be easier later

4. Put the bowl for another 4 minutes in the microwave.

5. Place a sieve over a pot or bowl, and transfer half the amount of semolina to the sieve.

6. With a spoon, swipe downward the semolina. The flakes that comes out to the bowl is the couscous. Continuing with this action with all the quantity. If there are small lumps press them down. If there is any “hard lamps” throw them away.

Preparation of the soup

1. Heat in a pot (which can contain all vegetables) 2 tablespoons oil.

2. Cut the onion into small cubes and add to the pot- the onion does not suppose to get all brownish.

3. Cut all the vegetables, and add the potato, the sweet potato, the carrots and pumpkin and fry for a few minutes.

4. Add the remaining vegetables, fill the pot with water, add the spices, cover the pot with the lid and bring to a boil. When the soup is boiling, lower the hit and simmer for about 40 minutes or until the vegetable are soften.

When serving: put couscous on a plate and pour some soup above it with lots of vegetables.

If you have any questions write me here in the comments section, and I”ll be happy to help!!
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