hand made couscous?

mimivan

Tue, Sep 23 2008, 8:54 pm

My MIL every Rosh Hashana prepares a special dish (with sweet potatoes etc...chicken and it is sweet but has tumeric, nutmeg, cumin etc...with some prunes) served over hand made couscous

I think I can copy the main part (anyone have a recipe, though), but I noticed she uses a special sieve like thing to make the couscous by hand.

Anyone make the couscous by hand? What is that sieve like thing? Anyone in E.Y know where to find one? Anyone have a good recipe to make couscous by hand? It is so much yummier than from a mix and dh won't touch coucous from the package.

Last edited by mimivan on Wed, Sep 24 2008, 8:36 am; edited 1 time in total

mimivan

Wed, Sep 24 2008, 9:18 am

hila wrote:

ASk your MIL ?
Maybe she will take it as a compliment and offer to make you some ?

"dear MIL, no one makes couscous like you, and I SO want to make DH happy. Please show me how."

She would but she's all the way up North...

TheBeinoni

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 12:54 am

Thats so funny my MIL also lives up in the North in the mid of nowhere and always makes her couscous by hand. I can ask her for info if you want! We also have family in Yerushalayim but I don't know if they make the couscous by hand... either way I can find out for you if you'd like! (Sorry this is already after RH)

Do you have the recipe for the marak that goes on top?

Tamiri

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 1:57 am

This is what I remember about making couscous by hand:
Wake up at 5 am. Sift the couscous the first time through one of those huge sieves, sprinkling water over it.
Go wash all the floors and tidy up the bathrooms. Start preparing DH's food for the day, which must consist of fresh bread from the makolet so run out and get it. Go sift the couscous again, with a sprinkling of water. You want the grains to start fluffing up but under no circumstances sticking together. IIRC, there may be a bit of oil involved here too.
Get husband out the door with his fresh food and start waking the kids. Put up a load of laundry.
Maybe sift the couscous a third time? Start the soup going in the bottom part of the couscousier. Get the kids ot the door. Check if the couscous has done what it's supposed to. Put the grains in the top part of the couscousier and GENTLY steam it forever until it's time to eat.
The couscous should come out silky and divine, nothing like what you eat from packages.
Enjoy!
I think you may be able to get the implements in old-time shuks. Maybe.

TheBeinoni

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 2:03 am

Tamiri wrote:

Tell me, did you grow up in my MILs house????????? ARE YOU MY MIL???????

Tamiri

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 2:09 am

I am not your MIL and I am not sfardi but I LOVED working with the Sfardi women I taught when I was in the army - probably before your parents were even married! Did I get it right? I forgot to add the salad with lemon juice that was cut up to eat with the couscous.
I have never made that kind of couscous myself. It sounded insane to make.

mimivan

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 2:15 am

hotmama wrote:

Yes, please ask...the problem is I can't find that special sifter thing...if she knows how to get one. I usually (when I cook it from the package) cook it with chicken soup. I make a honey curry chicken basted in chicken soup and it is good on couscous. Any other soup suggestions....

Actually, my dh actually ate the couscous I made from a package...but I made it with chicken soup instead of water. It would be nice actually to try making it, by hand...I don't know if I can, though...I want to try iy'h.

mimivan

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 2:22 am

I usually get up in the morning anyway...but for work, so I probably wouldn't have time to sift couscous...still it is one of those things I'd like to try just to say I've done that before...kind of like swimming the English Channel..

Okay, confession time. Do you know why I didn't get instructions on how to make couscous by hand from my MIL? Because she knows I work full time with kids and told me "Don't bother." But it made me want to just try it all the more LOL

TheBeinoni

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 2:26 am

Marak l'couscous:

Butternut squash
Zucchini
Cabbage
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Chick peas
Onions
Carrots
(I feel like I'm forgetting something, pls add on veggies I forgot!)
ALL CUT UP INTO CHUNKS how you like them

Cook in a large stockpot filled with water and chicken. Add carcum (tumeric) and salt to taste. Let simmer on low heat for a long time....freezes well, except for the zucchinis.

ENJOY!
As for the couscous part, I'll IY"H find out sometime this wk for you.

Tamiri

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 2:55 am

hotmama wrote:

The spices, from what I recall, are more complex than just turmeric. I remember a cinnamon-ey undertone. But I am thinking Tunesian, which may be totally diff than morrocan.
As far as the butternut squash: that didn't exist here back in they day. Then, as today, the cook purchased a hunk of dla'at (pumkin) and added it to the soup. I don't think I ever had soup without dla'at. I don't believe there were sweet potatoes in there, and I am not sure about the potatoes. I don't remember the soup being starchy at all, besides the chick peas. I imagine there were root veggies, such as lefet (turnip) in there cause turnips were cheap. Cabbage - I can't remember either. My memory may not be what it used to be.

TheBeinoni

Mon, Oct 06 2008, 7:31 pm

Well you know everyone has their variations. What I posted is a mix of my MILs recipe and a good friend (also born in Morocco). You are right about the dlaat, here tho (in the States) I think more ppl use butternut squash instead (at least the few ppl I know who make it). And the recipes from both my friend and MIL are that simple - tumeric! But of course, the beauty of Sephardic cooking is that its very organic, you just do what tastes right to you! No set instructions!