This is a recipe I got from the German Time-Life cookbook “Kleine Küchen der Alten [sic] Welt”. I've modified it to suit my measurements and to take into account that nowadays Cous-cous is invariably “instant” and thus doesn't need hours-long steaming.

Ingredients

For 6 people

quantity		ingredient		step
250 g		dried chick peas		1
1 kg		lean lamb, cut into 3 cm cubes		2
100 ml		oil for frying		3
300 g		onion, chopped into 3 cm pieces		4
20 g		garlic, crushed		4
300 g		tomatoes, fresh		5
		or		5
600 g		canned tomatoes with juice		5
5 g		ground pepper		5
2 g		cinnamon stick, broken into 2 pieces		5
0.5 g		saffron		5
		water		5
30 g		salt		6
250 g		carrots		7
250 g		turnips		7
250 g		sweet potatoes		7
500 g		pumpkin		7
500 g		zucchine		7
75 g		seedless raisins		7
20 g		salt		7
500 g		cous-cous, instant		8
20 g		chopped parsley		9
20 g		chopped coriander leaf		9

Preparation

1. Soak the chick peas for 12 hours. The original recipe recommends to then change water and boil gently water for one hour, but I have found this not to be necessary.

2. At the latest 2 hours, 10 minutes before serving: Cut the meat into roughly 3 cm cubes. This will take about 20 minutes.

3. 1 hours, 45 minutes before serving: Using a pan which will hold the entire dish, fry the meat in the oil until browned on all sides. This takes about 10 to 15 minutes.

4. 1 hour, 30 minutes before serving: Add the onion and garlic and fry until translucent. This takes about 5 minutes.

5. 1 hour, 25 minutes before serving: Add tomato (with juice if tinned), pepper, cinnamon, chick peas and saffron and enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

6. 1 hour, 10 minutes before serving: dissolve the salt in some of the sauce, mix well, add to the pot and continue to simmer for 30 minutes. There's a danger that solid salt might not be mixed well.

7. 40 minutes before serving: Add the carrots, turnips, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, zucchine, raisins and the remaining salt. Again dissolve the salt in some of the sauce, mix well. Pour over the vegetables. Add water if necessary to ensure that they are covered. The recipe recommends putting them in a colander or similar so that they can be removed when cooked. Bring back to the boil and cook for 30 minutes.

   Round about here the recipe gets hopelessly vague, concerned with cooking the cous-cous itself. This no longer makes sense, and I need to finish this after I have a little more experience with the thing.

8. 20 minutes before serving: Cook the cous-cous according to the packet instructions. By default, mix 60 g of cous-cous with 60 g of boiling water, along with some olive oil, and leave to stand for 10 minutes.

9. Shortly before serving, add the parsley and coriander. Serve with much Harissa.

Other recipes

Thanks to Mohamed Ifadir for these links:

• Couscous aux oignons caramélisés (T'faya)

• Smen (“buerre rincé”)