Dishes · A classic of Moroccan

Couscous with seven vegetables

Also Couscous aux sept légumes, Seksu

Steamed couscous heaped round meat and a broth of seven vegetables — carrot, turnip, squash, courgette, cabbage, tomato, chickpeas — with broth to pour over.

What makes it couscous with seven vegetables

  • Couscous steamed over the broth, not soaked in hot water.
  • Meat, usually lamb or beef, with a pile of vegetables — the hardest cooked longest.
  • Broth served alongside to moisten it.

Where it comes from

Couscous is Amazigh, made across the Maghreb for many centuries; in 2020 its knowledge and practices were added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list, nominated jointly by Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania.

In Morocco it's the Friday lunch, eaten after midday prayers from one great dish in the middle of the table. The seven vegetables are often said to be for luck, and the cooks rarely stop to count.

How it varies

Couscous tfaya
Topped with onions and raisins cooked sweet with cinnamon and honey.
Seffa
Sweet: couscous or fine noodles with butter, sugar, cinnamon and almonds.

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Start your own couscous with seven vegetables
No one here has made couscous with seven vegetables yet. Start it as v1, and every version after is an experiment the next cook can learn from.

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