Cous Cous Omma Naijia’s, Jamal's Mom's Recipe

• Serves 5-6
• We usually do a Sunday dinner at our house. Its Either Cous Cous or Maraka. Both are extremely hearty meals.

Tools

• Olivewood Spoon,  Slotted,  Regular,  or Extra Long Spoon for Mixing
• Olivewood Ladle for serving
• Large Sauce Pan
• Steamer Pan

Ingredients

• 1 Chicken cut up into pieces (substitute any meat)
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 can of Chick Peas
• ¼ cup Onion chopped
• 2 – 10 oz boxes of Cous Cous
• ¼ cup of olive oil
• Salt, Pepper, and Red Pepper (Cayenne)
• Pick 2-3 veggies from below

Veggies

• 2-3 Med Potatoes quartered
• Yams
• 10 Baby Carrots
• Squash
• Turnips

(You may want to stick fork holes in the harder veggies)

Stew Mixture

Pour ¼ cup of Olive oil in a med sized pan and sauté the onions. Brown the chicken w/the onions and add the can of tomato paste and brown it all together. Add Salt, Black pepper and Red Pepper to be a little over powering. Add a cup of water and let it cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir it. Then add water to almost the top of pan. Leave room for adding the veggies and then some. Bring it to a boil then add the veggies harder ones first. Continue cooking until all the veggies are cooked. The sauce is quite thin.

Cous Cous

In another pan that has a steamer basket that can fit in it add about 3-4 cups of water and bring to a boil. In a casserole dish pour the cous cous in and add about 1 cup of water to it. Next mix the cous cous with your hands so that all of the water is absorbed. Let it stand for about 10 minutes.  Begin scooping up the cous cous with both your hands and rub together to loosen the cous cous so it is grainy again.  Put the sieve on top of the boiling water and pour the cous cous into the sieve. Let it steam for about 10 minutes (it turn bright yellow when it is done). 

Put the cous back into the casserole dish. From the Stew mixture scoop some of the sauce and pour it over the cous cous. You don’t want it swimming but not dry either. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. Use a fork to mix it.   

Serving / Plating

You can serve the cous cous in the middle of the plate (traditional) or side and put veggies and meat on top. The kids like making the birds nest and then put the chickpeas in the middle.

Harissa

I also have harissa on hand to spice it up a bit. You can find it in stores in the international food section. Harrissa is best pre-mixed with a bit of Olive oil to tone down the heat. 

Extra

We generally serve Anaheim Peppers that have been blistered and fried on the side. I poke a hole with my thumb in the middle of the washed and dried pepper and put a pinch of salt and a pinch of cumin in the hole. Shake it. I then fry this in olive oil on medium heat until all sides are blistered. (this gets real messy and spatters).