A sweet couscous made with the fine-ground couscous called seffa (see page 28) is served hot, accompanied by a drink of cold buttermilk or milk perfumed with a drop of orange blossom water served in little glasses. The couscous needs quite a bit of butter because there is no broth. See the suggestions below for extra garnishes.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Prepare the couscous as described in Preparing Couscous on page 112. Before serving, cut the butter into small pieces and work it and the superfine sugar into the hot couscous, fluffing up the grain with a fork and breaking up any lumps.
Step 2
Shape the couscous into a cone in a round, flat dish. Dust the pointed top with confectioners’ sugar and draw lines, fanning down the sides, with confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon. Decorate further with one or two of the fruit and nut garnishes listed below.
Step 3
Serve in bowls and pass around bowls of honey, sugar, and cinnamon and more of the fruit and nuts, for people to help themselves as they wish.
Extra Garnishes to Choose From
Step 4
Arrange dessert raisins such as Muscatels or Smyrna sultanas with blanched almonds (toasted or fried in a drop of oil until lightly golden), or dates and walnut halves, around the bottom of the cone or between the lines of confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon. (The same nuts, coarsely chopped, and small raisins can be mixed with the couscous before it is shaped into a cone.) Sweet seedless grapes or shiny, pink pomegranate seeds are an alternative garnish to sprinkle over the mound of couscous.
