Recipe

Africa → 🇹🇳 Tunisia → Tunis
Couscous bel Hout
Tunisian · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 60 min
~734 cal · 51g protein · 74g carbs · 23g fat (estimated, per serving)
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Couscous topped with fish and vegetables in red broth
🇹🇳 Tunis
Couscous bel hout is the Tunisian coast on a platter, the steamed semolina mounded and crowned with fish and vegetables cooked in a fiery, harissa-spiked tomato broth. Friday and festive tables across Tunis center on this dish, the grains fluffed by hand and moistened with ladle after ladle of the red broth.
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Ingredients
Serves 6 —
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3 cups couscous
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2 lb firm fish steaks
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3 tbsp tomato paste
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2 tbsp harissa
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2 carrot
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2 potato
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2 zucchini
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1 onion
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4 cloves garlic
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1 tsp caraway
Instructions
1
Build a broth with the onion, garlic, tomato paste, harissa, and caraway in oil, then add water.
2
Add the hard vegetables and simmer until nearly tender.
3
Steam the couscous over the broth (or separately), fluffing with oil, until light.
4
Poach the fish (or chickpeas and mushrooms) in the broth until just cooked.
5
Mound the couscous, top with fish and vegetables, and moisten with the red broth.
Tunis tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Tunis. Medina kitchens where eggs poach in fiery tomato and harissa.
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Tunisia. North Africa’s harissa-loving Mediterranean coast.
🌍
Africa. Fifty-four countries of tagines, stews, and fire-kissed grills.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩‍🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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