I don’t use couscous that often and this was one of those rare occasions when I decided to make something with it. The initial idea was salad with spinach. I usually buy fine couscous and I don’t cook it, only soak it in cold water. That way the granules don’t stick together. When couscous was soaked and ready to be used, I realised I don’t feel like salad and then I started thinking what else I could possibly do with it. When I have that type of dilemmas, The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit comes in really handy. I reached out for it, flipped through some pages and even though it doesn’t have a proper chapter on couscous, I found some hints that pointed me in the right direction. Moroccan seffa was the keyword which caught my eye and after a bit more of research online, a few notes and an assessment of the content of my pantry I was preparing my improvised version of sweet couscous.
Ingredients:
Makes 2 servings
Soak couscous in water with a pinch of salt for around 30min. Toast a handful of flaked almonds until golden and set aside. Melt the butter, stir the sugar, cinnamon and finely grated orange zest into it. Put couscous into a hot frying pan and fry it for a few minutes constantly stirring, until the moisture evaporates. Pour the butter and sugar mixture over the couscous, add almond flakes, mix everything in and the dish is ready. If there are any lumps, you can fluff them up with a fork before serving. Traditionally Moroccan seffa is served in mound on a plate to share, sprinkled with additional cinnamon. It didn’t turn out as sweet as I thought it would be, so I also sprinkled some brown sugar over the top. I never had sweet version of seffa before and the result exceeded all my expectations: I just loved the the fragrance of the dish and the crunchiness of toasted almonds.