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As summer brings cravings for spicy food, French cuisine chef Noboru Tani recommends a dish made with couscous and a stew of spices from North Africa.
Couscous, originally from Morocco and other North African countries, is popular in France. Couscous is also known as the world’s smallest pasta and is served steamed.
“I remember this dish from when I first moved to Paris at 24,” Tani said.
He lived in an apartment in Montmartre, and he spent his days learning to cook. He frequently went to a restaurant owned by a man who seemed to be an immigrant of Arab descent.
“I used to eat a lot of couscous dishes with broth made from vegetables or something else. They were cheap and filling. It really saved me,” he said.
In the homeland of couscous, it is cooked in a special pot with a double-layer structure. The lower pot is used to make stew or soup, and the upper pot is used to steam the couscous.
To prepare a couscous dish without using a special pot, Tani makes the stew and pours it over the couscous.
Tomatoes are an essential ingredient, but other vegetables are optional. Careful preparation, such as removing the skin from vegetables that tend to stick to the tongue and cooking the squash separately, brings the dish closer to a professional finish.
A key ingredient for this dish is harissa paste, which also originated in North Africa. Harissa is a combination of chili peppers, garlic, coriander and other spices that are mixed together and turned into a paste to create a rich, spicy umami taste and a unique aroma.
If you don’t have harissa, you can add red pepper instead.
The stew is rich, spicy and addictive, melting into the umami of meat and vegetables. The couscous thoroughly absorbs the flavor.
The longer you cook the vegetables, the milder the spiciness of the harissa. If you want a more pronounced spice, add it in later. The amount of harissa can be adjusted to your taste. The spice and umami are exquisite together.
Harissa dressing
The Yomiuri Shimbun A dressing using harissa
Harissa is a multipurpose seasoning. “It can be used in various ways, such as on grilled meat or in stir-fries,” he said. It adds depth to the taste and an exotic atmosphere.
To make the dressing, add olive oil, little by little, as if you were trying to mix and spread out the harissa. If you leave peeled garlic soaking in the olive oil, only a small amount is enough to add more flavor to the dish.
***
Couscous stew
Ingredients (Serves 2):
450 grams chicken thigh
120 grams couscous
2 tomatoes
2 turnips
1 zucchini
1 carrot
1 red bell pepper
½ onion
⅛ squash
1 tbsp chicken broth powder
1 tsp harissa
Directions:
Yomiuri Shimbun photos Top: The insides of the zucchini are scraped out with a spoon. Down: The broth is poured over the couscous in a bowl.
1. Lightly sprinkle salt on the meat and cut into large pieces. Peel the tomatoes and cut them in half horizontally. Remove the seeds and strain the tomatoes. Keep the tomato juice. Cut onion into wedges and carrot into chunks. Cut turnips into bite-sized pieces, leaving the skin on. Scrape out the center of the zucchini with a spoon. Remove the skin of the squash and cut into bite-size pieces. Char the surface of the bell peppers, put them into the water and peel the thin skin. Remove the seeds and placenta, then cut into large pieces.
2. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a frying pan and brown the meat. Add onion and cook lightly.
3. Boil 2 liters of water in a pot and dissolve the chicken stock in it. Add prepared meat, put tomato juice in the pot and simmer. When the meat becomes tender, remove it from the pot.
4. Mix the harissa into the pot and add carrots, then simmer until carrots are cooked through. Add turnips, zucchini and bell peppers.
5. Separate some broth from the pot and simmer the squash in a separate pot.
6. Cut the tomatoes into small pieces and add them to the pot with vegetables. After simmering it, add the meat and squash.
7. Take 120cc of broth from the stew and pour it over the couscous in a bowl. Cover with a lid and let it steep for about 5 minutes. Place the couscous on a plate and pour the stew over it.
