(Baha) Editor’s note: The recipe and initial text below are excerpted from Paula Wolfert’s book Couscous and Other Good Food From Morocco. Wolfert also shared some helpful cooking ideas specifically with Epicurious, which we’ve added at the bottom of the page. If you truly like the taste of lamb, you will love this dish. It’s a pity that we Americans know so little about steaming meats; just as steamed veggies keep their original tastes, so do steamed chickens and lamb. If you do not have a steamer, utilize a couscousière or a colander with a tight-fitting cover that fits snugly over a kettle. Some individuals believe that steamed lamb looks unattractive (though no one rejects that it’s incredibly great). If you feel this way you might brown the meat rapidly in butter or oil at the end, or roast it at high heat until it browns. Steamed food ought to be consumed the moment it is ready, when it is at its peak: if left too long, it will dry.
Components: 1/2 teaspoon newly ground black pepper,1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt,5 to 5 1/2 pounds shoulder and part of the rib area of young spring lamb,4 to 5 entire infant onions (optional),1 bunch fresh parsley sprigs, Pinch pulverized saffron, Sweet butter, softened
Directions: 1. Cut the lamb of excess fat: the thin fell can be left on. Blend the saffron with 1/4 cup butter, salt, and pepper. Rub into the lamb flesh.,2. Bring plenty of water to a boil in the bottom of a steamer, kettle, or couscousière (to borrow a technique from Diana Kennedy, author of The Foods of Mexico, toss in a cent– when the cent stops clicking you need more water). Moisten a piece of cheesecloth and twist into a strip the length of the circumference of the kettle’s rim. Use this strip to attach the perforated top so that it fits snugly on top. Inspect all sides for effective sealing: steam should rise just through the holes. Make a bed of parsley over the holes and rest the shoulder of lamb on it. Surround with the onions, if utilized, and cover with a double layer of cheesecloth and after that, tightly, with a lid. Do not lift the cover throughout the very first 1 3/4 hours of steaming. Be extremely cautious, and stand back when lifting the lid. If the lamb hurts and falling off the bone it is all set; if not, continue steaming 15 to 30 minutes longer.,3. If preferred, brown in oil and butter or rub once again with butter and brown in a very hot oven (greatest setting). Serve with bowls of ground cumin and salt, to be used as a dip., New york city: Harper & Row,1972 Directions: – Generally, this dish would be prepared with zebda, a pungent, naturally curdled product that stemmed with the Moroccan Berbers. American saltless butter, while not a specific match, can be effectively replaced.
– This meal is typically served with couscous, the small Moroccan semolina pasta. To produce authentically fluffy Moroccan couscous, steam it for 30 minutes in a couscousière or tight-fitting, lidless cleaner. Then dispose it into a flat pan, gradually include 1 cup of salted water, and rake out any lumps with a wire whisk. Lastly, return the couscous to the couscousière and steam it for an additional 30 minutes.