Tunisian Couscous (Kosksi bil Hout)

Name: Tunisian Couscous (Kosksi bil Hout)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 130 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Tunisian & Sahel
Ingredients: 1 kg couscous semolina; 1.5 kg whole fish (grouper/sea bream) or lamb; chickpeas, potato, carrot, quince, pepper; harissa + tomato paste; tabil, caraway, coriander

Tunisia's couscous runs red and hot: semolina steamed over a harissa-and-tomato broth, crowned in the coastal version with whole fish, potato, and quince — the spiciest of the four Maghrebi traditions.

2 hr 10 min · Serves 8 · Takes some skill

Recipe by Halal Gourmet Editorial Team

Ingredients

Grain

1 kgcouscous semolina

Stew

1.5 kgwhole fish (grouper/sea bream) or lamb, meat = zabiha
chickpeas, potato, carrot, quince, pepper

Broth

harissa + tomato paste, the red, spicy signature

Spice

tabil, caraway, coriander

Method

Start cooking mode

Time: Prep 40 min · Cook 90 min · 130 min total
Difficulty: hard

1
Build a red broth with harissa, tomato paste, tabil, and caraway — Tunisian couscous broth is assertively hot and tomato-red.
30 min
2
Steam the semolina over the broth in stages, raking and resting between steamings.
50 min
3
Cook vegetables in the broth and add the fish near the end so it doesn't break; mound couscous and top generously.
40 min