Mesfouf

Steamed three times with the grains rubbed between the hands in between, and finished sweet rather than savoury.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter), honey.

Ingredients

the couscous

• 500 g fine couscous
• warm salted water
• 100 g butter, softened
• 4 tablespoons olive oil

to finish

• 150 g dates, chopped
• 100 g raisins, soaked
• 100 g blanched almonds, chopped
• 60 g pistachios, chopped
• 4 tablespoons caster sugar, or honey
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water
• pomegranate seeds

Method

1. IT IS STEAMED THREE TIMES WITH THE GRAINS RUBBED BETWEEN THE HANDS IN BETWEEN, and finished sweet rather than savoury. The three steamings are the whole technique: twenty minutes in the top of a couscoussier, then tipped out, sprinkled with water and worked through with the fingers to break every lump, then steamed again, and again. Each round hydrates the grain a little further and the rubbing keeps it separate, so the finished couscous is light and every grain distinct. Soaked in boiling water in a bowl -- which is how most people cook couscous -- it comes out claggy, and in a dish where the grain IS the dish rather than a bed for a stew, that is the difference between it working and not.
2. IT IS FINISHED SWEET, WHICH IS WHAT SEPARATES IT. Butter, dates, raisins, almonds, sugar and blossom water. The same grain, the same three steamings, finished with a lamb stew instead, is a different dish entirely -- this one is eaten as a dessert or at the end of a fast.
3. THE GRAINS ARE RUBBED WITH FAT AS WELL AS WATER. Olive oil worked through before the first steaming, butter between the later ones. Fat coats each grain and is the other half of what stops them clumping; water alone is not enough.
4. IT IS FINE COUSCOUS, NOT MEDIUM. The smallest grade. Mesfouf is meant to be delicate, and medium couscous gives something that eats like a grain salad.
5. THE RUBBING IS DONE WHEN IT IS COOL ENOUGH TO HANDLE AND NOT BEFORE. Tipped into a wide bowl and left two or three minutes. Worked while scalding, it gets rushed and the lumps survive -- and the lumps are what the whole process is against.
6. THE DATES AND NUTS GO IN AT THE VERY END, OFF THE HEAT. Folded through the warm couscous. Steamed with it, the dates dissolve into paste and the almonds soften.
7. IT IS SERVED WARM OR AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, NOT CHILLED. Butter sets hard in the fridge and the grains stiffen.
8. The couscous spread in a wide bowl, sprinkled with warm salted water and the olive oil WORKED THROUGH with the fingers.
9. Steamed in the top of a couscoussier 20 MINUTES.
10. Tipped into the wide bowl, left 2 to 3 MINUTES, then sprinkled with more warm water and RUBBED BETWEEN THE HANDS until every lump is gone.
11. Steamed a SECOND time 20 MINUTES, rubbed again with some of the butter.
12. Steamed a THIRD time 20 MINUTES.
13. The remaining butter, sugar and blossom water folded through while warm.
14. The dates, soaked raisins, almonds and pistachios folded in OFF THE HEAT.
15. TESTED: the grains should be entirely separate and light. Any clumping means a rubbing was skipped or rushed.
16. Served warm or at room temperature, with pomegranate seeds.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Tunisia · All recipes