Tunisian Marqa-Style Cous Cous (كسكسي مرقة)
This recipe makes a Tunisian home-style cous cous more weeknight-friendly. The perfect side dish
Like Morocco, Tunisia places a lot of pride into its cous cous. These tiny beads of semolina dough are traditionally steamed instead of soaked, often using a special double-boiler called a couscoussière. To double down on energy usage, cous cous is often steamed over a flavourful, aromatic tomato broth such as a ‘marqa’ which infuses the grains with savoury perfume. Before serving, a small amount of this broth is usually added to the cous cous to season it, adding a subtle hint of vegetables, spices, aromatics and harissa that complements the whole meal. To emulate this, this recipe uses a soaking method but with a ‘savoury liquid’, and uses the right ratio of liquid to cous cous to create steamy, fluffy beads that tumble out onto a serving plate. Like they do in Tunisia, serve it alongside spicy vegetable dishes or seafood. Let’s go!
INGREDIENTS (serves 2-4x)
250g cous cous
2 tsps olive oil
1 tsp tomato paste
1 tsp harissa paste (optional)
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
pinch of black pepper
1x chicken stock cube or 1-2 tsps of powdered chicken stock
220ml boiling hot water
WALKTHROUGH
Add the 250g cous cous to a heatproof bowl and set it aside.
Now let’s make the marqa-style flavour paste. In a heatproof jug, combine the 2 tsps olive oil, 1 tsp tomato paste, 1 tsp harissa paste, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp paprika, pinch of black pepper, 1x chicken stock cube or 1-2 tsps of powdered chicken stock. Mix the ingredients to form a coarse paste.
To the paste, add the 220ml of boiling water and mix until dissolved. Immediately add the hot liquid to the bowl of cous cous. Mix briskly with a fork to make sure there are no dry pockets, and immediately cover the bowl with cling film or a tight-fitting lid/plate. Let the cous cous soak for 20 minutes at room temperature.
After soaking, fluff the cous cous with a fork. It will initially feel compacted and dense, but spend a little bit of time fluffing and you’ll have tender grains that remain fluffy and separate.
Serve your cous cous straight away - if reheating is required, cover with a tight lid and microwave for 20-30 seconds, shaking at regular intervals. Enjoy!
