Seven-Vegetable Couscous (Couscous bidaoui / Friday Couscous)

Name: Seven-Vegetable Couscous (Couscous bidaoui / Friday Couscous)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 120 min
Total time: 160 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Moroccan Imperial & Coastal
Ingredients: 1 kg couscous semolina; 1 kg lamb or beef (or chicken); seven vegetables (carrot, turnip, courgette, pumpkin, cabbage, tomato, chickpeas); onion, saffron, ginger, smen; harissa / tfaya (caramelized onion-raisin) to serve

The communal heart of the Moroccan week: hand-steamed semolina mounded under a saffron-scented broth of seven vegetables and tender meat — the dish that gathers the family every Friday after prayer.

2 hr 40 min · Serves 8 · Takes some skill

Recipe by Halal Gourmet Editorial Team

Ingredients

Grain

1 kgcouscous semolina, hand-rolled or fine dried

Stew

1 kglamb or beef (or chicken), zabiha
seven vegetables (carrot, turnip, courgette, pumpkin, cabbage, tomato, chickpeas)
onion, saffron, ginger, smen

Serve

harissa / tfaya (caramelized onion-raisin) to serve (optional)

Method

Start cooking mode

Time: Prep 40 min · Cook 120 min · 160 min total
Difficulty: hard

1
Build a saffron-ginger broth with meat and onion in the base of the couscoussier.
30 min
2
Steam the semolina uncovered over the broth; remove, rake with oil/water, rest, and re-steam (2–3 times) until light and separate.
60 min
3
Add vegetables to the broth in order of cooking time; mound couscous, top with meat and vegetables, moisten with broth, finish with smen.
50 min