This soup will add some spice to your life. It has a unique flavor that you usually could only find in the Jerusalem shuk, an authentic restaurant or an Israeli ‘safta’ house. Jamie Geller’s spices will take this soup from a simple vegetable soup with couscous to another level. Making the couscous from scratch is much easier than it sounds and will impress anyone who is lucky enough to taste it.
Authentic Marak Couscous (Couscous Soup)
This will add spice to your life
Servings
4 Servings
Ingredients
- 2 cups semolina flour
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6-10 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 6 medium carrots chopped
- 6 celery sticks chopped
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon Jamie Geller Baharat
- 1 tablespoon Jamie Geller Hawaij
- ½ a butternut squash chopped
- 2 large zucchinis chopped
- 3 large tomatoes chopped
- 2 cans of chickpeas without the liquid
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- Parsley for topping
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix the semolina flour, olive oil and salt. Use your fingers to incorporate the ingredients together.
- Gradually add 1 tbsp of water at a time, using your fingers to make sure it is mixed well. The dough should become grainy rather than mushy. You will probably need between 6-10 tbsp but don’t add too much at once to keep the grainy consistency.
- To make the couscous right away you bring a pot of water to a boil and place it in a fine mesh strainer or steamer on top of the boiling water (making sure it doesn’t touch any of the water) and steam for 7-12 mins until consistency is smooth. Another option is to allow the couscous to steam over the vegetable soup below (which will incorporate its flavor into the couscous).
- In a large pot, add olive oil, onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Mix well and let it fry several minutes.
- Add the tomato paste, Jamie Geller Baharat and Jamie Geller Hawaij. Mix well and allow to fry another few minutes.
- Add the butternut squash, zucchini, tomatoes and chickpeas. Mix Well.
- Add the vegetable broth and the water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for approx. 30 mins (until the veggies are soft).
- Serve over the couscous and sprinkle parsley on top. So much flavor!
Thanks
2 cups of dried couscous should work
How much store bought couscous would I use if I don't want to make my own?
Sorry to be picky, but do you have a different spice recommendation? Maybe cumin type or something else that is still middle eastern? Baharat and hawaij are not my favorite spices, even though they are in my spice drawers. Also, if the nine days were not coming up, how would you recommend to make this recipe fleischigs? Stew meat, flanken or cheek meat sound like a good addition. What are your thoughts?
It’s hard to say exactly without testing it, but you can you can try harissa and cumin and add to taste. You can easily add chicken and cook for longer, but any kind of stew meat should work well too.