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Eating
together has always been a habitual custom, not
only for Gurdjieff’s groups, but also for many
other Middle-Eastern groups. Arab cooking, with
its unmistakable tones, offers a marvellous range
of dishes that enhance our times of Work and fix
the memory of smells and flavours. Preparing couscous
and eating it together with other seekers can
become a good opportunity to |
exercise our awareness and rediscover the ancient
flavours of the meals prepared by Gurdjieff
himself.
COUSCOUS - BASIC RECIPE
The
preparation of couscous, whilst simple, requires
precise treatment: the grains must be swollen,
light and detached from each other, so as not
to form lumps and not to be heavy. For this reason,
it is clear that steam cooking is essential.
The
traditional pot, in terracotta, copper or aluminium,
consists of a lower part, where the stew is cooked,
and an upper part, with a base full of small holes,
for the couscous. If you want to try your hand,
but you don’t have a couscoussier nearby,
you could make do with a steam pan, or a metal
sieve that makes a good fit in a large pot.
Before cooking, the couscous must be soaked in
a little cold water and worked between the fingers,
so as to help prevent the formation of lumps;
it should then be poured into the top of the
couscoussier an hour before the stew is ready
(the stew should already be simmering in the lower
part of the pot), and the grains should then be
moved by hand, so as to introduce more air and
help them to swell, during the first half-hour
or so.
After this, the couscous is usually poured into
a large terrine, sprayed with cold water and mixed
with a wooden spoon to crumble any lumps that
may have formed. It is usually at this point that
salt is added, and perhaps a little oil, and the
couscous is then put back into the upper part
of the couscoussier for the remaining half-hour.
Couscous can also be cooked in the steam of normal
boiling water, whereas pre-cooked couscous, which
takes just a few minutes to prepare, should be
made up according to the instructions on the packet.
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