Ingredient

Couscous

Couscous is not a grain. It is a pasta — semolina moistened and rolled into tiny granules — and knowing that explains almost everything about how it behaves, including why boiling water poured over it produces something claggy and why steaming produces something light.

Instant against traditional

Almost all couscous sold in British supermarkets is instant — pre-steamed and dried at the factory, so it needs only rehydrating. That is why the packet says to pour boiling water over it and wait five minutes.

It works, and it is not what couscous is capable of. Traditional couscous is steamed over a simmering stew in a couscoussier, raked and rubbed between the hands, and steamed again — often three times. Each steaming swells the granules further and separates them, and the result is dramatically lighter and more delicate than anything a kettle produces.

You can improve instant couscous considerably by steaming it too. Hydrate it with a little less liquid than the packet says, rub it through with oiled fingers to break up clumps, then steam it for ten minutes over a pan. It is a different food.

Getting instant couscous right

If you are not steaming it, these are the details that matter.

1. Use stock rather than water. Couscous is bland semolina and it will taste of exactly what you hydrate it with.
2. Use slightly less liquid than the packet says — roughly equal volumes rather than more. Excess liquid is what makes it heavy.
3. Add olive oil or butter and salt to the liquid before it goes on.
4. Pour the hot liquid over, cover tightly, and leave it undisturbed for five minutes.
5. Now the important part: rub it through with your fingertips or a fork, breaking every clump, while it is still warm. Oiled hands help. Couscous left to sit and then stirred once is lumpy.
6. Steam it for ten minutes at this point if you have the time. It is the single biggest improvement available.

The couscouses

Fine / medium couscous

The standard North African grade. Tiny granules. What most recipes mean.

Giant / pearl / Israeli couscous (ptitim)

Much larger spheres, toasted, boiled like pasta rather than steamed. Chewy and quite different. Not a substitute in a North African dish.

Moghrabieh / Lebanese couscous

Larger again, pea-sized. Simmered in stew. A distinct dish.

Wholewheat couscous

Nuttier, firmer, takes slightly more liquid.

A note on the word

In North Africa, "couscous" is the name of the whole dish — the grain plus the stew that goes on it — not just the semolina. That is worth knowing when reading a recipe.

What to do with it

• Under a tagine or a stew, which is what it is for. The stew's liquid is what seasons the couscous.
• As a salad, with roasted vegetables, herbs, lemon, and something sharp — preserved lemon, pomegranate, feta.
• With harissa and chickpeas, warm, as a quick lunch.
• Toasted first. Dry-toasting couscous in a pan before hydrating it deepens the flavour noticeably.
• Giant couscous fried after boiling, in oil until the edges catch, which is far better than boiling it alone.
• As a sweet dish — seffa, steamed couscous with butter, sugar, cinnamon, almonds and dried fruit.
• Not as a rice substitute in a wet dish, generally. It absorbs liquid indiscriminately and turns to paste.

Common questions