Seven-vegetable couscous, a vegetarian recipe

Name: Seven-vegetable couscous
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Morocco
Ingredients: 500 g medium couscous; 400 g pumpkin, in large chunks; 2 courgettes, cut into thick pieces; 3 carrots, halved lengthways; 2 turnips, quartered; 1 wedge of white cabbage; 2 tomatoes, grated; 2 onions, sliced; 250 g cooked chickpeas; 1 bunch coriander and parsley, tied together; 1 tbsp ras el hanout; 1 tsp turmeric and a pinch of saffron; 4 tbsp olive oil; Salt, pepper, 1.5 litres water

Seven-vegetable couscous

Local name: كسكس بسبع خضار

Fluffy steamed couscous under a saffron broth of pumpkin, courgette, turnip, carrot and chickpeas. Morocco's great Friday family dish.

Published on 21 November 2025

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Method

In the base of a couscoussier, fry the onions in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, spices, herb bundle, salt and pepper, then the water. Bring to the boil.
Add the carrots and turnips to the broth and simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, moisten the couscous with 250 ml salted water, rub it between your hands to separate the grains and leave it to swell for 10 minutes.
Put the couscous in the steamer basket over the broth and steam for 20 minutes. Tip it into a dish, sprinkle with a little water and a drizzle of oil, and rub the grains apart again.
Add the pumpkin, cabbage, courgettes and chickpeas to the broth. Return the couscous to the steamer for a second 20-minute steaming.
Check that all the vegetables are tender and the broth is well seasoned.
Mound the couscous on a platter, make a well in the centre, arrange the vegetables on top and ladle over plenty of broth. Serve the rest of the broth on the side.

The “seven” vegetables are symbolic; cooks use whatever the market offers that day. Steaming the couscous twice keeps it light and separate, which is the heart of the dish.

The techniques this recipe uses

Sweat the aromatics
Medium heat, no browning: the onion should turn translucent and sweet, not toasted.

Frequently asked questions

Why steam the semolina twice?

Each pass hydrates the grain a little more, and raking it through between the two, with a trickle of oil and water, stops the grains welding together. That is what gives light, separate couscous, where semolina simply soaked in boiling water sets into clumps.

In what order should the vegetables go in?

Firmest to softest: carrots and turnips first, for twenty minutes, then pumpkin, cabbage, courgettes and chickpeas. Adding everything at once leaves the courgettes collapsed and the turnips still raw.

Does it really need seven vegetables?

The number is symbolic and the list changes with the season and the market. What matters is the balance: root vegetables that hold their shape, a squash for sweetness and something green. Keep the chickpeas, which give the broth its body.

Meatless Moroccan cooking, from bessara to tagine

Bessara, zaalouk and taktouka are plant-based by tradition; harira, tagine and couscous, often made with meat or smen, work just as well without.

Vegetarian Maghreb cooking, with nothing missing

What Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia share — semolina, pulses, olive oil — and how their everyday dishes stand up perfectly well without meat.

The chickpea, from one kitchen to the next

The chickpea’s four states — raw ground, cooked whole, puréed, milled to flour — what each one makes possible, and why a tin cannot stand in for them.

Seven-vegetable couscous

Method

The techniques this recipe uses

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Nutrition per serving

Frequently asked questions

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