Algeria - Bil Zbib (Dessert Couscous)

I love making desserts and over the years they have become my specialty. They are fun to make and delightful to eat! This week I made a simple and delicious dessert from Algeria.

 

Algeria is in northern Africa and is the largest country in its region. Algerian cuisine is a diverse mix of Arabic, French and Mediterranean flavours. Algeria’s national dish is couscous, typically served with spicy slow cooked stews and topped with dried fruit. But Peter and I both eat a lot of couscous at home, so to try something different I made a dessert couscous. Algerians also enjoy their desserts, as they are the second greatest consumers of honey per capita in the world.

In Algeria, as with many countries, cooking is considered to be the woman's duty. Women get together to prepare meals and pass down their recipes from mother to daughter. While I am fortunate that Peter and I both enjoy cooking at home (he makes a brilliant fish curry!), I do cherish the times when I am in the kitchen with my mum. I believe that some of our best conversations occurred over the kitchen counter. I grew up in the kitchen, making play-dough, doing homework and learning to cook. 

Interestingly, despite the culture of the surrounding countries, cooking and household duties are not the only part of Algerian women's' lives. During the 1962 Algerian War of Independence (from France), women fought alongside men. Now in Algeria, women contribute more to household income than men. They make up 70% of the country's lawyers, 60% of its judges and also dominate the fields of medicine and science.

Bil Zbib

 Ingredients:

• ¼ cup sultanas
• 4 dried apricots
• 3 prunes
• 3 dates
• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 cup dried couscous
• 2 Tbs melted butter
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• icing sugar, to serve

Chop ¼ cup sultanas, 4 dried apricots, 3 prunes, and 3 dates.

In a saucepan combine sultanas, apricots, prunes, dates, and 1 ½ cups water. Heat until boiling.

Once boiled, take the saucepan off the heat, add 1 cup couscous and cover. Let sit 5 minutes.

In a bowl, 2 Tbs melted butter, 2 Tbs sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp nutmeg.

When the couscous is ready, fluff up the grains of couscous with a fork.

Then add the butter mixture and stir until consistent.

Serve warm with a dusting of icing sugar.

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This recipe will probably make enough for 6 people.   

I served this sweet and spiced couscous at two family dinners and both times it went down fantastically. Peter highly recommends serving it with lots of icing sugar, while my sister thinks that it is incredible the way it is. 

In the words of my five-year-old niece, “I like it”. 

A simple and delicious dessert, 193 meals to go. Next stop on my world tour: Andorra.