Moroccan Couscous with Fish

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Tomato sauce

1. 1
   Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveLarge pot
2. 2
   Add the onion and carrot and fry 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 3
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
4. 4
   Add the cumin, paprika and turmeric and stir about a minute, until fragrant.

   ⚙ SimmeringStove

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.

To assemble

1. 5
   Pat the fish pieces dry with paper towels and place it in the sauce, skin side down, and spoon some of the sauce over it. Cover and cook over medium-low heat 10 minutes, until the fish flakes easily.

   StoveLid

   💡Pat the fish dry and don't overcook it: wet fish thins the sauce, and overcooked fish dries out and falls apart.
2. 6
   Bring the rest of the stock to a boil and pour it over the couscous.

   StoveSmall saucepan
3. 7
   Cover 5 minutes and fluff the grains with a fork.

   💡Fluff with a fork, not a spoon: a fork separates the grains, and a spoon mashes them into clumps.
4. 8
   Turn off the heat, squeeze the lemon juice over the top and sprinkle the cilantro over the top.
5. 9
   Serve everything together, with the couscous.