Moroccan Couscous with Meat and Seven Vegetables with homemade cooked chickpeas

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade cooked chickpeas ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 1
   Soak the chickpeas overnight in plenty of cold water.

   Bowl

   💡Soak in plenty of water, well above what's being soaked: legumes and grains swell and drink water, and whatever sticks out stays hard. Drain well before continuing.
2. 2
   Drain, cover with plenty of unsalted water and cook 1.5–2 hours, skimming off the foam and skins from time to time, until the chickpeas are very soft and crush easily between your fingers.

   ColanderStovePot

   💡Fully cooked chickpeas crush between your fingers with no resistance at all. Chickpeas that stay a little firm make a grainy spread, and no amount of tahini will fix it.
3. 3
   Drain, reserving a cup of the cooking liquid.

   Colander

For the Fried onion

1. 4
   Heat the olive oil in a wide pot over medium heat.

   StoveWide, shallow pot
2. 5
   Add the onion 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.

   Stove

   💡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. 6
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   Stove

   💡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.

To assemble

1. 7
   Add the lamb and fry 5 minutes, until browned on all sides.

   Stove
2. 8
   Add the cumin, turmeric, paprika, ginger, cinnamon, salt and black pepper and stir.
3. 9
   Add the tomatoes, water and chickpeas and bring to a boil.

   Stove
4. 10
   Turn down the heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes.

   StoveLid

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
5. 11
   Add the carrot, kohlrabi and raisins and cook another 20 minutes.

   Stove
6. 12
   Add the zucchini and cook another 10 minutes.

   Stove

   💡Hard vegetables (carrot, eggplant) go in first, and zucchini only toward the end of cooking: that way they're all tender and none fall apart.
7. 13
   Bring the liquid, butter and salt to a boil and pour it over the couscous.

   StoveSmall saucepan
8. 14
   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.
9. 15
   Serve the couscous on a plate with the stew and broth on top.