Middle Eastern: Couscous 22 by Recipe Cottage

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	Couscous 22

		Couscous Definitions: gsaa: A shallow basin made of wood, clay or metal ghorbal: A wooden hoop sieve tbak: A shallow round basket (This is assuming you've already grown your own durum wheat and ground it into a coarse meal) To make couscous grains, place several handfuls of semolina in the gsaa. Sprinkle them with salt water. Then roll the resulting lumps around the gsaa with the palm of the hand. Small grains or pellets will form. Keep repeating this until all of the semolina is rolled into small pellets. Sometimes a bit of flour is sprinkled on the semolina to help separate the pellets. Pour into ghorbal. Roll the pellets around the ghorbal with the palm; the smaller finished grains will drop through the screen. Tip the larger grains into the tbak so thay can be rolled again without returning them to the gsaa. Use flour as necessary to reduce their size. Pour back into a ghorbal of finer screen. Sift, re-roll and sift again, until all of the grains have passed through the ghorbal and are thus of suitable dimensions. Any larger grains left in the ghorbal can be used for burkukis (a couscous dish which uses a larger grained couscous). Place twice-sifted couscous in the tbak. Place couscous grains in the woven kiskas for the first of two steamings. Steam the couscous over plain water in a couscousier until the vapor penetrates all the grains. Then transfer the pellets to the gsaa to cool. Break up any lumps. Steam the couscous a second time, and return it to the gsaa. Once cool, spread the grains on the large sheet (of cloth) to dry in the sun. Rake them ocasionally with the fingers to expose all the pellets to the air. When the grains are completely dry - which may require several days, depending upon humidity - divide the couscous among its makers and store in closed containers.