Usban

Liver and heart are chopped in with the rice, and it is simmered in the couscous broth rather than cooked alone.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains a sausage casing, which is gut unless it says otherwise, lamb.

Ingredients

the casings

• 2 m sheep casing
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons coarse salt
• 4 tablespoons white vinegar

the filling

• 300 g short-grain rice, rinsed
• 200 g lamb, minced
• 150 g lamb liver, finely chopped
• 100 g lamb heart, finely chopped
• 1 bunch spring onions, sliced
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• a large bunch of parsley, chopped
• a handful of dill, chopped
• 2 teaspoons dried mint
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and black pepper

to cook

• 1.5 litres lamb or vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée

Method

1. LIVER AND HEART ARE CHOPPED IN WITH THE RICE, and it is simmered in the couscous broth rather than cooked alone. Both things matter. The filling is not simply spiced mince and rice: a hundred and fifty grams of liver and a hundred of heart, chopped fine, go in alongside, and they are what gives usban its deep mineral flavour and its dark colour. And it is not a standalone sausage -- it is dropped into the pot of broth that a couscous is being cooked over, where it simmers for an hour and seasons the broth as much as the broth seasons it. Cooked in plain water and served alone it loses half its purpose.
2. THE OFFAL IS CHOPPED BY HAND, NOT MINCED. Liver and heart both go gluey and pasty through a mincer. Chopped to three or four millimetres they stay as distinct pieces in the rice.
3. THE CASINGS ARE FILLED ONLY HALF FULL AND PRICKED. Raw rice doubles. A packed casing splits in the first twenty minutes and empties into the broth -- which also ruins the broth. Half full, tied in lengths, and pricked two or three times each.
4. THE CASINGS ARE CLEANED WITH FLOUR, SALT AND VINEGAR AND RINSED UNTIL THERE IS NO SMELL. Rubbed inside and out with flour, then coarse salt, then soaked in vinegar water, then rinsed through several times. Bought casings still need this, and it is the difference between a good dish and an inedible one.
5. IT IS SIMMERED GENTLY FOR AN HOUR AND NEVER BOILED. A bare tremble. A hard boil bursts the casings however carefully they were filled, and then the rice is in the broth instead of in the sausage.
6. THE HERBS ARE AN ENORMOUS QUANTITY AND GO IN RAW. A large bunch of parsley, a handful of dill, spring onions and dried mint. By volume the herbs look like as much as the rice. They are the other half of the filling and a modest handful gives something that tastes only of offal.
7. IT IS SLICED THICK AND SERVED ON THE COUSCOUS. Two or three centimetres, laid over the grain with the broth spooned round. Cut thin it falls apart.
8. The casings turned inside out and rubbed with the FLOUR, then the COARSE SALT, soaked in water with the VINEGAR 30 MINUTES, then RINSED through several times until there is NO SMELL.
9. The liver and heart CHOPPED BY HAND to 3 or 4 mm. Not minced.
10. Mixed RAW with the rinsed rice, minced lamb, spring onions, tomatoes, parsley, dill, dried mint, spices, olive oil and seasoning.
11. The casings filled only HALF FULL, tied off in lengths of about 20 cm, and PRICKED 2 or 3 times each.
12. The broth brought to a BARE TREMBLE with the tomato purée whisked in.
13. The lengths lowered in and simmered GENTLY 1 HOUR. Never boiled.
14. TESTED: the casings should be intact and the rice cooked through. Burst lengths mean overfilling or a hard boil.
15. Lifted out, sliced THICK, and served on couscous with the broth spooned over.

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