Couscous - Local Variations

Local Variations

In Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, couscous is generally served with vegetables (carrots, potatoes, turnips, etc.) cooked in a spicy or mild broth or stew, and some meat (generally, chicken, lamb or mutton).

In Algeria and Morocco it is also served, sometimes at the end of a meal or just by itself, as a delicacy called "seffa". The couscous is usually steamed several times until it is very fluffy and pale in color. It is then sprinkled with almonds, cinnamon and sugar. Traditionally, this dessert will be served with milk perfumed with orange flower water, or it can be served plain with buttermilk in a bowl as a cold light soup for supper.

In Libya, it is mostly served with meat, specifically beef, lamb, or camel, in Tripoli and the western parts of Libya, but not during official ceremonies or weddings. Another way to eat couscous is as a dessert; it is prepared with dates, sesame, and pure honey, and locally referred to as "maghrood".

In Tunisia, it is made mostly spicy with harissa sauce, it is served with almost everything, including lamb, beef, camel, and poultry. Fish couscous is Tunisian specialty, it can be also made with octopus in hot red spicy sauce. Couscous in Tunisia is served on every occasion; it is also served sweetened as dessert called masfouf, mostly during Ramadan.

In Egypt, couscous is eaten more as a dessert. It is prepared with butter, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, nuts and topped with cream.

Couscous is also very popular in France, where it is now considered a traditional dish, and has also become popular in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece. Indeed, many polls have indicated that it is often a favorite dish. Although introduced in France by the pieds noirs (people of European descent who used to live in Algeria), many couscous restaurants are now owned by people originating from Algeria. In France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal, the word "couscous" (cuscús in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian) usually refers to couscous together with the stew. Packaged sets containing a box of quick-preparation couscous and a can of vegetables and, generally, meat are sold in French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese grocery stores and supermarkets. In France, it is generally served with harissa sauce.

In North America, Australia, and the United Kingdom, couscous is available most commonly as either plain or pre-flavoured, quick preparation boxes. In the United States, it is widely available, but largely confined to the ethnic or health-food section of larger grocery stores.

There are recipes from Brazil and other Latin American countries that use boiled couscous molded into a timbale with other ingredients. In Northeastern Brazil and among the diaspora of its population in other Brazilian regions, cuzcuz ( locally, kuʃˈkujʃ in Rio de Janeiro, kujsˈkujs in São Paulo), a steamed cake of couscous and corn flour (a mixture called fubá, pronounced, said to be of African origin from the slave trade), is a popular meal, served in many forms: With sugar and milk, with varied meats, with cheese and eggs, and so on. In Mexico, there are two dishes called the couscous taco (taco de cuscús) and couscous burrito (burrito de cuscús), which consists of the addition of couscous to a traditional taco or burrito respectively, similar in fashion to a North African pita.