Berkoukch (also called moghrabieh in Lebanese cuisine) is the Berber mountain version of couscous — the pearls are larger, hand-rolled, and toasted before cooking. Where fine couscous is steamed, berkoukch is simmered like risotto, absorbing broth and the flavors of whatever meat and vegetables are in the pot. A winter dish, often served with warm flatbread.
Hand-rolled couscous beads larger than millet — chewier, denser, served in a meat-and-vegetable broth. Berber mountain food, eaten when wheat couscous would be too small to satisfy.
Berkoukch beads are made by rolling wet semolina between palms until small balls form — the larger size means each bead has more starch core relative to surface, giving a chewier bite. Simmered in a tomato-and-meat broth rather than steamed — the pellets cook through while absorbing the liquid, like risotto.
Variations
Berber High Atlas version uses lamb and turnip; Riff Mountains version uses goat; Tunisian version uses chickpeas — three Atlas mountain comforts.
On the Palate
Where Berkoukch sits in the Moroccan flavor cloud
Ingredients
How it's made
5 steps · 1 hour 15 min
- 15 min
Brown 500g cubed lamb shoulder in olive oil with 1 chopped onion in a heavy pot, 8 minutes.
Watch outBrown the lamb until a deep crust forms on the cubes, not just greyed on the outside.
- 21 min
Add 6 minced garlic cloves, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp ginger, salt. Stir 1 minute.
- 315 min
Add 1.5L water, 150g soaked chickpeas, 2 chopped tomatoes. Simmer covered 60 minutes.
- 415 min
Stir in 250g toasted pearl couscous. Simmer uncovered 12-15 minutes until pearls are tender and the liquid is thickened but still soupy.
Watch outStop while the pearls are tender but the pot still looks soupy and loose, not dry.
- 52 min
Finish with a knob of smen (or butter) and chopped cilantro. Serve in deep bowls with khobz.
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