African cuisine is attached to its tradition and available ingredients in the past. The source components of the African diet rely on root vegetables, grains, meat, and hearty spices.
The staples in Africa include maize, cornmeal, yams, plantains, green bananas, sorghum, cassava, rice, barley, millet, couscous, and lentils.
Among all these rich ingredients, couscous is the favourite staple, used in endless traditional dishes.
Couscous is a pale or yellowish pasta made of durum wheat semolina. It is made by coarse grinding the wheat to form small spheres. It is the star ingredient in various traditional sugary and savoury recipes.
The most traditional couscous dish takes the same name: Couscous. It is a dish steamed and accompanied by a flavoured stew of vegetables, meat, or a combination of both.
Types of couscous
Couscous has spread to many countries around the world. A lot of variants have developed to create three main types:
- Moroccan couscous: It is the traditional type of couscous. It is small grains of wheat semolina flour. It is the most popular and available type in every corner of Africa and outside. It has a nutty flavour and soft texture.
- Lebanese couscous: It is also known as Moghrabieh couscous. It is made of semolina dough. It is a big-sized type of couscous and looks like a chickpea. The texture is firmer due to its size.
- Israeli couscous: It is also known as pearl couscous. It is larger than Moroccan couscous but smaller than the Lebanese type. It is considered a medium-sized couscous. To learn more about this type, go to this link https://riceselect.com/product/riceselect-pearl-couscous and discover helpful ideas for making delightful dishes with it.
There are more varieties of couscous. Some contain diverse ingredients like millet, barley, sorghum, or whole wheat.
Couscous dishes
Depending on the African region, couscous cooks differently. It adapts to local meats, species, and vegetables.
Some of the most popular dishes with couscous, and the ones you cannot miss while visiting this colourful country are:
- Plain couscous: It is a common side dish that accompanies meat (mutton, meatballs) or fish. It is couscous cooked with water, oil, and salt. It also goes with milk or sauce.
- Traditional Moroccan couscous: It includes lamb, turnips, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, coriander, onions, and garlic. The spices used are cinnamon, paprika, coriander, nutmeg, ginger, saffron, and black pepper.
- Tajine: It is a stew made up of meat (chicken, beef, lamb, or fish), vegetables, grains, couscous, fragrant spices, and dried fruits. Ingredients are slow-cooked in a traditional Moroccan cooking pot also called Tajine.
- Tunisian couscous: It is a spicy red dish with fish or camel, dried fruit, chickpeas, tomatoes, and a common Tunisian hot sauce called harissa. There is a local version called couscous barbouche. It has tripe, cilantro, parsley, and hard-boiled eggs.
- Algerian couscous: A hearty dish with tomatoes, turnips, potatoes, courgettes, zucchini, carrots, onions, lamb or chicken, and beans. It is flavoured with coriander, chilli, cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, cloves, cumin, and ginger.
- Libyan couscous: Its main ingredient is lamb or camel. It goes with courgettes, pumpkin, beets, potatoes, celery, fennel, carrots, onions, tomato puree, and chickpeas. The spices include cinnamon, black pepper, and turmeric.
- Mauritanian couscous: This dish is the simplest of all. It contains camel, lamb, beef, tomato, onion, and carrots, and is served with ghee.
- Caakiri (Couscous Pudding): It is a sugary preparation made with couscous, yoghurt, crushed pineapple, evaporated milk, seasoned with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg, and served with raisins.
- Masfouf: Another sweet dish that contains couscous cooked with butter, sweet milk, orange blossom water, raisins, banana, nuts, grapes, and pomegranate seeds.
