On the heat. Mild · harissa at the table

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg lamb knuckles
• 500 g couscous
• 200 g chickpeas, soaked
• 3 onions · 4 carrots · 3 turnips
• 2 courgettes · 300 g pumpkin · 1 cabbage wedge
• 1 tsp each: turmeric, ginger, white pepper
• Saffron · 1 cinnamon stick
• 100 g butter · coriander and parsley, tied
• Harissa, to serve

Method

1. Brown the knuckles in the bottom of a couscoussier or large pot. Onions, spices and the herb bundle in. Water to cover, chickpeas in.
2. Simmer 90 minutes.
3. Meanwhile steam the couscous three times, raking it with wet hands and a little salted water between each 15-minute steaming. This is the only way to get the texture, and it is worth the trouble.
4. Add the vegetables to the broth in order of hardness: carrot and turnip first, then pumpkin and cabbage, courgette last. About 35 minutes in total.
5. Butter forked through the finished couscous.
6. Mound the couscous on a wide platter, make a well, pile in the meat and vegetables, and ladle broth over. Harissa loosened with broth, in a bowl on the side.

Cook's note. Never boil couscous in water. Steaming it three times over the broth is the difference between couscous and wet semolina.

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