Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
September 16 , 2006

WB grants Morocco loan of USD 60 mln.  
Moroccan NGOs help combat illiteracy.   
ICT market growing in Morocco.
Morocco Foundation teams up with US department store for charity project.
Over 6 million Moroccan pupils to attend school.
Blogs becoming increasingly popular in Morocco. 
King kicks off new school year.
King sets up Higher Council for Education to speed up reform.
2006 GDP growth estimated at 7.3%, HCP.
Moroccans favour private education.
Morocco plans Arab world's first high-speed train.
Beauty and the Berbers
Couscous: A crowd-pleaser.
Couscous makes a filling salad or dessert.

WB grants Morocco loan of USD 60 mln.                        
By Bachir Niah 9/9/2006

The World Bank (WB) has granted Morocco a loan of USD 60 million to fund the first phase of the second national programme to build rural roads (PNRR-2). The programme provides for the construction of 7,900 km of rural roads between 2005 and 2010, at an estimated cost of MAD 6,200 million. Signed on Friday by the Moroccan Minister of transport, Karim Ghellab, and the WB's interim vice-president of Middle East and North Africa, Hasan Tuluy, the loan had been approved by the WB's administrative board last May.

“Better access to basic infrastructure is essential to improve living conditions and increase the economic opportunities for the rural communities,” had said the WB in a press release issued in May.

This loan is part of the agreement signed by Morocco and the WB in 2005 to provide the country with Euro 31 million to fund a programme for building roads covering 625 km in the framework of PNRR-2, said a communiqué of the ministry. The PNRR-2, which will facilitate communication between some three million people, at a rate of 300,000 a year, aims at the construction and the improvement of 15,500 km of roads between 2005 and 2015.

The first National Programme of Rural Roads (NPRR – 1) was launched by the Moroccan government in 1995. This came as a necessary move to face the challenges the Moroccan road network faced, and still faces in many areas, including under-development, limited rural accessibility, weak maintenance, and severe weather conditions.

A new report by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has revealed Morocco is the top reformer in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region on initiating actions facilitating doing business in 2005-2006.

The report, titled “Doing Business 2007”, underlined that Morocco has reduced the minimum capital required to start a new business from MAD 100,000 to 10,000; it eased transfer of property by cutting the transfer tax from 5% to 2.5% of the property's value; and simplified its tax rules by combining multiple tax regulations into one source, making compliance easier.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/Paper/article.asp?idr=5&id=16960
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Moroccan NGOs help combat illiteracy.                               
By Sarah Touahri 10/09/06

Moroccan NGOS are heavily involved in teaching women, young and old, to read and write. They feel a sustained effort at the local level is the best means to overcome the problem. Moroccan NGOs are striving to help the country wipe out illiteracy. Lahcen Haddad, director of the Adros Project, which aims to raise literacy rates among young nursemaids, told Magharebia that the country needs help to achieve its goals.  "Literacy affects all of us. We're doing good work in Morocco in this area, but we need to increase our efforts and all sectors of society need to get involved," he said.

Noureddine Hraiche, president of the Association of Development and Reform, also believes civil society should be more involved. His association tries to teach women living in shantytowns to read and write. "Morocco is one of 12 countries in the world where three-quarters of the population is illiterate. Our association is trying to do its bit, even if [it helps] only in our local area," he explained to Magharebia.

Belmouden Saadia, a member of the same association, has tirelessly knocked on doors hoping to encourage girls to rise from the mire of illiteracy. The aspiring pharmacist will teach a class of 22 girls at the Zirara School in Temara. Hafida Zaoui, a 12-year-old girl in the class, is determined to do something about her future. "I don't want to be ignorant for the rest of my life. I want to understand life. If I don't study, I'll remain illiterate," she declared defiantly.

Hayat Al Abdouni, a 15-year-old girl, is also optimistic. She stopped studying just after reaching age ten to look after her younger sister, but is now determined to make up for lost time with the help of the Association of Reform and Development.

Older women are also seeking to change their everyday lives through literacy. El Hajja Tamou Saadine cannot wait for the new term of literacy classes to begin. "I enrolled in my course last year thanks to the Moroccan Association for the Protection of Rural Women (AMPFR). I've learned a lot. I won't give up until I can read and write well, like my children," she told Magharebia.

AMPFR President Malika Ben Mahi is proud of her association's achievements in running literacy and vocational training courses. "Armed with a slate, chalk and a small exercise book, women study very hard at our association. Teenagers and women in their 60s study side by side. The hardest workers receive gifts at the end of each school year to encourage them to keep going," she said.

Zahia, a once illiterate woman, has seen her life turned around completely through Yacoub Al Mansour's Women and Action Association. She sees those around her in a different light and is no longer ashamed to mix with well-educated people. She is able to follow the news on television in Arabic with her children with ease and hold conversations about many different topics. She can sense pride in the eyes of her family.

The number of children being taught by NGOs rose from 153,218 in 2004 to 225,129 this year. The public sector has made a similar contribution, while the private sector has only taught 2,652 people. Women account for 79 per cent of people enrolled in literacy courses.

NGOs that Magharebia spoke to feel the illiteracy problem should be overcome with an approach involving and empowering people at the local level. They believe every community must put together a literacy and prevention plan. Improving school enrolment and drop-out rates is also deemed to be necessary. NGOs believe a sustained effort lasting three or four years is needed to permanently vanquish the problem.

http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2006/09/10/feature-01
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ICT market growing in Morocco.                                    
By Adam Mahdi  10/09/2006

Deregulation of the Moroccan telecom sector has led to great expansion of the Moroccan information technology and communication market, especially for Internet connections and mobile telephones. The Moroccan information technology and communications (ICT) market is expanding rapidly because of deregulation of the sector, a policy the country implemented in the 1990s.

The country currently has over 5 million Internet users and more than 400,000 subscribers. Part of the reason for the boom has been the explosion in high-speed ADSL access. The number of ADSL subscribers grew 220 per cent between March 2005 and March of this year. Such users now account for 96 per cent of all Internet subscribers. Morocco has also become the first Arab and African country to have launched ADSL television technology.

The boom in Internet access has additionally led to over 25,000 domain names being registered in the country. Over 120,000 computers and 40,000 printers are put on sale in Morocco each year. The country's businesses owned 1.2 million computers in 2005. In terms of personal use, 13.2 per cent of the population had a computer in 2005. The 745,000 personal computers in use represent 20 per cent more than the 2004 figure. Moroccan businesses used 1.2 million computers in 2005, with another 745,000 owned by private citizens.

The arrival of a second operator in the mobile phone market has led to penetration reaching 43 per cent in March from an estimated 13 million customers, according to the National Telecom Regulation Agency. Mobile penetration was 41 per cent at the end of 2005. In the first quarter of this year, the mobile phone market experienced 4 per cent growth. Prepaid phones account for 95 per cent of the total market, compared to 5 per cent for pay-as-you-go phones.

Original operator Maroc Telecom has 8.5 million subscribers and a market share of over 66 per cent, while new entrant, Meditel has 4.5 million subscribers. The landline telephone market is stagnant, with only 1.31 million lines in use in June of this year.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2006/09/10/feature-02
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Morocco Foundation teams up with US department store for charity project.
By Farah Kinani. 12/09/06

The Morocco Foundation is teaming with Macy's to raise money for its "Schools Without Borders" programme. The programme will benefit four rural schools near Essaouira. Some of the proceeds earned by the US department store Macy's on 16 September will benefit the Morocco Foundation "Schools Without Borders" programme, which targets rural schools in Morocco to promote education in underprivileged communities.

"The Macy's partnership is available to all [non-profit] organisations based in the United States," Morocco Foundation General Secretary Nadia Serhani told Magharebia. Macy's gave the Morocco Foundation 100 tickets to sell for $5 apiece to consumers. The ticket allows the purchaser to receive discounts up to 20 per cent throughout the store.

The proceeds will specifically go to four schools in Ben H'mida, which are located 50km outside Essaouira, notes Serhani, adding that the foundation has been working with the schools to provide school supplies to be distributed on 20 September to all 315 children. According to her, the next step is to help provide the schools with bathrooms or washing facilities. "The problem is major because over 120 female students were dropping out this year because of the lack of sanitation in the school," she stressed.

Besides Macy's, the Association of Moroccan Professionals in America is also a partner in the "Schools Without Borders" programme. The association is a non-profit organisation established to promote networking between experienced, successful, and active Moroccan professionals in the United States.

The "Schools Without Borders" programme came about after persistent calls from teacher Khadija El Hadi to the Morocco Foundation about the dramatically severe situation of the children due to the absence of basic infrastructure in the Ben H'mida region, said a release from the foundation.

The Morocco Foundation is a non-profit organisation established and introduced in the United States by Moroccans in September 2004. According to President Jalil Abou Fariss, the Morocco Foundation was created in the spirit of co-operation, unity, understanding, contribution, peace, and "most importantly communicating with our community here in the United States, abroad and in Morocco." The Morocco Foundation is also working towards promoting peace by reaching out to friends of Morocco with the hope of building bridges of genuine human connection.

"Our good faith and great religion have been hijacked by lunatics who do not have the remotest idea what Islam means or stands for. Through this foundation, we hope to promote peace and strengthen the Muslim/Moroccan relationship with the Western world," Fariss said in an interview with the Morocco Times.

Among the other projects undertaken by the Morocco Foundation is the building of their second water well in the remote villages of Ait Baha in the Atlas Mountains. The first one was built last year in a boarding school in Souk Larbaa after the death of one of the schoolchildren while fetching water across the street. http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2006/09/12/feature-02
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Over 6 million Moroccan pupils to attend school.
Rabat, Sep. 12

Some 6.8 million pupils will attend school in the 2006-2007 academic year, which will kick off on September 14. According to the ministry of Education, some 402,700 students will join private schools in the new academic year, compared to 367,000 in the 2005-2006 academic year. The schooling rate among children aged between 5 and 6 years will reach 60.4%, this rate will exceed 91% among 6 year-old children and 93% among children aged between 6 and 11 years.

The new academic year program provides notably for creating 44 new schools, 177 schooling units in rural areas, 83 junior high schools and 32 senior-high schools. Part of the social assistance to needy pupils, 5,698 canteens will be set up for 1,023,000 pupils, including 915,260 in rural areas. A program dubbed “Génie”, providing schooling institutions with Internet-connected multimedia rooms, will be launched during the 2006-2007 academic year to span over three years.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box5/over_6_million_moroc/view
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Blogs becoming increasingly popular in Morocco.               
By Adam Mahdi. 11/09/2006

A growing number of Moroccan Internet surfers have become bloggers this year due to cheaper Internet access, the general availability of ADSL and the launch of a number of local blog platforms. Current developments in the already diverse Moroccan blogosphere include the creation of an Arabic-language blog platform and an Internet portal combining news, a subject directory and a blog platform.

A Moroccan blog boom has occurred this year due to a number of technological developments.
ADSL access has become cheaper and more available due to deregulation of the telecom sector. Morocco now has over 5 million Internet surfers and more than 400,000 subscribers, with most using ADSL.

The increased access has encouraged a number of Moroccan businesses to launch their own platforms. Blogjahiz.ma and Blogs.ma are the two major Moroccan platforms at the present. The immense popularity of blogs among young people has led to the recent launch of Marblog.com by Multimedia Studios.

The Moroccan blogosphere now has over 10,000 blogs, not including blogs set up on other international platforms or private blogs with personal domain names. The dominance of French in the Moroccan blogosphere is beginning to lessen as Arcanes Technologies' recently-launched Blogjahiz is the first Arabic-language Moroccan platform.

"The creation of an Arabic-language platform will certainly help Moroccan bloggers overcome the language barrier of French and English and start blogging with ease," says Arcanes CEO Amine Riadi.

Blogs.ma is currently working to create an Internet portal to provide news, a comprehensive subject directory, and a forum to create blogs, according to Tarik Essaadi, manager of Point Info, which is running this platform.

An indicator of the diversity of the Moroccan blogosphere is the wide variety of different kinds of blogs. Blog types include personal diaries, professional, discussion of a field of interest, medical, photoblogs, and podcasts. "Moroccan bloggers come from a wide variety of backgrounds and all have different stories to tell. They have a wide variety of everyday interests and concerns. They also have wide-ranging views on politics and philosophy," according to Moroccan blogger Larbi.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2006/09/11/feature-01
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King kicks off new school year.
Casablanca, Sep. 14

King Mohammed VI kicked off, here Thursday, the new school year in the Moulay Driss I School in Casablanca. On this occasion, the monarch chaired a ceremony to distribute schooling stationery to several pupils, part of the program to support schooling and reduce student mortality. Supervised by Mohammed VI Foundation for Solidarity, the program is meant to encourage children schooling, promote solidarity with the needy families and contribute in reducing non-schooling.

The operation provides for distributing one million textbooks, worth USD 1.25Mn, and 100,000 schoolbags (worth USD 230,000). The sovereign had, earlier in the day, set up the Higher Council for Education to speed up reform of the educational field in order to ensure the success of what he called "the new Moroccan school project."

The Council is a platform for wide-ranging consultation and exchange of views and an effective observatory to monitor the sector’s evolution that will submit proposals in connection with education and training issues.

Some 6,832,000 pupils, including 2,840,227 girls, are enrolled in the 2006-2007 school year, both in private and public schools. Some 402,700 pupils will join private schools in the new school year, compared to 367,000 the previous year. The schooling rate among children aged 4 to 5 will reach 60.4%, this rate will exceed 92% among 6 year-olds and 93% among children aged between 6 and 11 years.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box1/king_kicks_off_new_s/view
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King sets up Higher Council for Education to speed up reform.
Casablanca, Sep. 14

King Mohammed VI on Thursday set up the Higher Council for Education to speed up reform of the educational field in order to ensure the success of what he called "the new Moroccan school project," in an address to members of the newly created body. "I am aware of the urgency and of the strategic importance of ensuring the success of the new Moroccan school project, and also of the need to expand access to the knowledge and information-based society," the monarch said. He noted that the Higher Council for Education will give new momentum to the educational reform "by building on our achievements, and at the same time tackle the difficulties impeding the reform, speed it up and consolidate it so that it can be constantly in tune with new developments in the field."

King Mohammed VI insisted on the need to seize this opportunity which, he said, may have far-reaching consequences for Morocco. "I therefore insist, once again, that we must reach a decision on this issue. The time has indeed come to show the audacity, courage and sense of responsibility required to address the true problems of the education system, with which we are all familiar and from which we are all suffering." Those problems, he explained, have been a stumbling block that has hindered any genuine, meaningful reform of our education system.

He urged the newly appointed Council to include, “among its foremost priorities, the task of proposing effective solutions to the above problems, and to address the core issues at stake, by giving the reform process the strong impetus it needs at the current stage, and the momentum required to upgrade our human resources and pave the way for a bright future.”

The Higher Council for Education was set up by the monarch to mark the beginning, September 14, of the new school year with some 6.8 million pupils enrolled in the 2006-2007 academic year both in the private and public schools. According to the Ministry of Education, 402,700 students will join private schools in the new academic year, compared to 367,000 the previous year. The schooling rate among children aged 5 to 6 will reach 60.4%, this rate will exceed 91% among 6 year-olds and 93% among children aged between 6 and 11 years.

In his address, the monarch made it clear that the question of education concerns all Moroccans, and “given the need to identify ways and means of ensuring ongoing reform of our educational system, the Higher Council for Education must, as a constitutional institution, remain accessible to all experts and stakeholders involved in this vital domain.”

The Council, he explained, will provide a platform for wide-ranging consultation and exchange of views, serve as an effective observatory to monitor the sector’s evolution, and submit proposals in connection with education and training issues.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box1/king_sets_up_higher/view
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2006 GDP growth estimated at 7.3%, HCP.
Rabat, Sept. 14

The growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the year 2006 is expected to reach 7.3%, according to figures released Wednesday by the haut commissariat au plan (HCP). A report of the HCP issued during a meeting of the press with commissioner Ahmed Lahlimi ascribes the good performance to the positive evolution of trade activities.

The document notes a 30.6% progress in agriculture in comparison of its added value registered in 2005, adding a parallel improvement is expected in the field of livestock farming. The report also registers a rise of 7.4% in the activities of construction, against 5.9% in 2005, and a 5.9% evolution in the trade services. The HCP also expects the trade GDP to jump to 8.6% in 2006 against 1% in 2005 thanks mainly to a 12.6% evolution of the air traffic during the first five months of the current year.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box2/2006_gdp_growth_esti/view
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Moroccans favour private education.                                    
By Sarah Touahri.14/09/2006

Many Moroccan parents prefer private schools because they feel the institutions offer more to their children and can give them a brighter future. The number of pupils being sent to private schools in Morocco has noticeably risen over the past few years, as parents want to ensure their children receive high-quality education. Around 500,000 pupils are currently being taught to read and write by the private sector.

Khalid Al Idrissi, a teacher in a state school, chose a private school this year for his four-year-old daughter. "I gave the decision a lot of thought. My daughter needs to start learning two languages, Arabic and French, from a very early age. Also, the state school is overcrowded. That's why I thought it would be better to put my daughter in a more favourable environment," he said.

Most of his colleagues, and other who have the money, have made the same decision. "I definitely wouldn't send my child to a public school. In the private sector, there are lots of extracurricular activities, like music and painting, which encourage children to thrive," says student Imrane Rajae.

While the public has great confidence in private schools, their quality depends on cost. "The prices aren't fixed, it's a matter of supply and demand. You have to know where the best place is for your child. Sometimes a school may not provide the education you're looking for, as I've found out from experience," says photographer Sarhane Aissa. His eight-year-old daughter has been in three schools, which he all found unsatisfactory

"At the first school, she was given too much homework and she found it hard to keep up. At the second, they didn't pay enough attention to the children's health. This year, I've had her enrolled in a school near where I live. I just hope it'll be the last time I have to move her," he said.

"Parents shouldn't choose just any old private school. They should get to know everything about the school: the curriculum, the other children, the standard of teaching. That's what I did before sending my son to private school when he was three-years-old," declares engineer Abderrahmane Kadiri.

All private schools are obliged to provide the state curriculum as a minimum, but they are free to add any activities they consider necessary. Any school which fails to comply with the standards set by the Minister of National Education is closed down.

The Moroccan government is committed to developing private education, hoping the private sector will work alongside it to ensure that everyone receives an education. According to the Minister of National Education, only 6 per cent of children are currently being taught in the private sector. The National Charter on Education and Training has set a target of 20 per cent to by 2010.

Most private schools are in urban areas, with shortages existing in rural areas. Presently, 47 per cent of private schools are situated along the stretch of Atlantic coastline between Kenitra and Casablanca, while the remaining 53 per cent are scattered among larger cities in other regions of the country.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2006/09/14/feature-01
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Morocco plans Arab world's first high-speed train. 
By Tom Pfeiffer, 9/15/2006 RABAT, Morocco

Work on the Arab world's first high-speed train — stretching from the Mediterranean to the door of the Sahara desert — could begin next year, the head of Morocco's rail company said. The trains would travel at up to 300 kilometres ( 186 miles) per hour, slashing times from Tangier in the north via Marrakesh to Agadir in the south, and from Casablanca on the Atlantic to Oujda on the Algerian border.

"Marrakesh to Tangier in two and a half hours — it's as if the country's shrinking," rail operator ONCF's managing director Mohamed Rabie Khlie told Reuters in an interview. "A high-speed rail network will put us in the rail industry's big league." If the plans are approved, the 1,500 kilometres of track may take until 2030 to complete at a cost of around 25 billion dirhams ($2.87 billion), Khlie said.

Improving transport links from the center of the kingdom to long-neglected outlying regions is an important part of the government's attempt to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment and poverty. A better rail network would also relieve congestion on Morocco's roads, where around 10 people die every day in accidents.

Once financing for the new lines is sealed, engineering work could begin in the second half of 2007, Khlie said. Journeys from Casablanca to Marrakesh could be cut to 1 hour and 20 minutes from over three hours, and from the capital Rabat to Tangier to 1 hour and 30 minutes from 4 hours and 30 minutes.

And Khlie said plans mooted years ago for a tunnel from Europe to Africa across the strait of Gibraltar were still on course, meaning trains may one day travel direct from Madrid to Marrakesh. "A Moroccan-Spanish committee is working very hard on this issue and it's going very well," he said. "We feel quite a clear willingness on the Spanish side to push things forward."

Network expansion
According to media reports earlier this year, the United Arab Emirates is studying the feasibility of a high-speed rail line between its airports in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. But Khlie said ONCF was the only train company in the Arab world with the financial health and technical capabilities needed to launch a high-speed rail project.

After years of restructuring with the help of loans from the World Bank, European Investment Bank and foreign governments, ONCF began turning a consolidated profit from 2004, giving it the financial muscle to embark on a broad expansion.

It plans to invest 15.5 billion dirhams in the 2005-09 period, as much as was spent in the previous 25 years, to expand and improve a cumbersome infrastructure, parts of which have changed little since the days of the French protectorate.

ONCF will acquire the status of a company next year, with a 50-year concession to operate the existing national network. Under plans to liberalise the rail sector, private companies could be contracted to build and operate future rail lines that would link up with ONCF's network, Khlie said. But he played down the idea that the government may split ONCF's infrastructure and operations activities, an option chosen by some European rail firms, or even privatise it. "Nothing stops ONCF being brought to the stock market as long as the state keeps overall control," he said. "The priority today is not any privatization but to develop the network."
Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2006-09-15-morocco-high-speed-train_x.htm
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Beauty and the Berbers.
When John Gimlette visited Morocco to track down an old friend, he found his senses reawakened by the people and scenery he encountered in the Atlas Mountains.

This is a tale of an old friend that begins in tragedy but ends well. Jacqueline Brandt was living in Vichy when her world suddenly disintegrated. "My son was killed in an accident on Christmas Day," she told me a decade ago, "and then my husband left me, taking everything we had."

Like a character from Hideous Kinky, she then headed for Morocco and the Atlas Mountains, but - unlike Esther Freud's heroine - ours is middle-aged, and already broken and broke.

Ten years later, my wife and I set off to find her, unsure what to expect.
Marrakesh was as good a place as any to begin. Although only three hours from London, it's hundreds of years from the present. On our first day, we found ourselves in a bewildering medina of earth streets, muleteers and public ovens.

Slavery had been abolished in 1912, but we could still buy rusty manacles - not to mention silks, ostrich eggs and desiccated geckos. It was like shopping one's way through the Bible. Then, just when it seemed we were lost in Leviticus, we'd stumble into Djemaa el Fna, the Square of the Dead. Happily, it's no longer strung with severed heads, but it's almost as odd. That night, we met water-sellers, acrobats, professional story-tellers and a quack who'd crossed the Sahara with his snake-blood cures.

(read the rest of this article by clicking on this link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2006/07/19/etmorocco.xml&page=1
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Couscous: A crowd-pleaser.                                              
September 12, 2006 By JOHN KESSLER Cox News Service

ves Samake was raised in a family where you ate everything.
"Frog's legs, snails, everything," said the Parisian-born-and-raised chef who has recently taken over the kitchen at the Ritz-Carlton Atlanta. Then, clutching his 9-inch knife, he gestures to the cooking project filling every countertop in my kitchen. "But if we had a lot of people coming over, this is what my mom made: couscous."

Samake has cubed piles of peppers and zucchini, skewered chicken and lamb, run a sodden clump of couscous through his fingertips to separate it bit by bit, and is now sautéing onions in the bottom of a special double boiler called a couscoussiere. Soon it will hold a simmering, ruddy stew of vegetables that will steam the couscous in the perforated top compartment and render it as downy and ether-light as any carb could dare to be.

This is the real deal. In Paris, couscous gets the starring role at the city's countless Moroccan restaurants; it often shows up as a weekly special at bistros, and it's just the kind of exotic-homey recipe that home cooks count in their repertoires. The dish's popularity is due to France's long colonization of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. It caught on thanks to the pieds-noirs (African-born French nationals) who repatriated in the early '60s following Algeria's independence and gained further popularity with the waves of North African immigration into France.

Of course, in Paris couscous isn't just couscous. It's an event — an evening that speaks of a healthy meal served by the mound, of a big group gathered around the table, and of accolades for the cook who spent a couple of hours assembling a foolproof menu.

As Samake walks me through the steps, I'm already thinking ahead to Labor Day. With all the grilled meats and brochettes that typically top a summer couscous, what better way to recast the annual barbecue?

"Do you have a chicken cube?" Samake asks. "My mom always put one in the vegetables." The vegetables are soon burbling merrily in a broth seasoned with tomato paste, cumin, ras el hanout (a Moroccan spice blend), bay leaves and that telltale chicken cube.

Samake's mother, Rosaline, exposed her son early to the pleasures of entertaining and found inspiration in the immigrant communities that transformed Paris during his childhood in the 1970s. If she wasn't whipping up huge batches of Vietnamese rice-paper rolls, she was simmering deep pots of West African groundnut stew. That worked well for his father, Mamourou, who was himself an immigrant from Mali.

So as a youngster, Samake wanted to cook as well. "I think my first recipe involved hazelnuts and raisins. I just remember my mom having to clean it up."

Because of the French education system, Samake had to choose a career path at the age of 14, and cooking was it. Now 36, his career has led him from the kitchen of Paris' classic luxury restaurant, La Tour d'Argent, to the Ritz-Carlton in Dubai. The Ritz-Carlton Atlanta is his first gig as head chef. He may have distinguished himself with upscale hotel food, but his real love is North African cooking.

Now it's time to place the soaked, oiled and separated couscous in the top layer of the couscoussiere, which he has lined with cheesecloth to keep errant grains from falling through the holes into the vegetable stew below.

Did his mom use cheesecloth?

"Actually," Samake begins a little sheepishly, "my mom used the microwave, and her couscous came out good, too. But I think today we'll use the couscoussiere."

The couscous is steaming. The vegetables are simmering. Raisins, which Samake will stir into the finished couscous, are plumping in a strong brew of hot tea and fresh mint. Now it's time to grill.

Samake has brought chicken and lamb kebabs, lamb chops, ground lamb koftes molded over skewers, and the spicy, paprika-red Moroccan sausages called merguez. The sausages are firm and skinny, as they're made with lamb casings.

We stir the raisins into the couscous and set out a bowl of the ubiquitous North African condiment harissa - a kind of well-seasoned chile paste.

We have also prepared some simple Middle Eastern salads - hummus, tabbouleh and an eggplant spread called moutabel — to serve with wedges of grilled pita as a starter to serve with cocktails or glasses of wine. For dessert, oranges and figs poached in a light syrup will keep this impressive dinner healthy.

All that's missing is a house full of guests.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060912/NEWS/609120310/1026/FEATURES12 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Couscous makes a filling salad or dessert.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 By FAYE LEVY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES

I first learned of Morocco's couscous as a hearty, warming entree. A Tunisian friend introduced me to the North African specialty when she prepared what she called "a couscous," a feast built around the tiny grains of couscous. Using a cooker called a couscoussier, she steamed the grains three times above a savory broth, in which she poached beef and vegetables. The couscous was served steaming hot, topped with the meat, vegetables and additional meat-stuffed vegetables. At her home, making this lavish entree was a weekly ritual.

Like spaghetti, couscous is made of durum wheat semolina. The semolina is moistened with water and pushed through a strainer or coarsely ground into tiny bits the size of coarse salt. In the Maghreb countries of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, where couscous originated, cooks match it with substantial stews and soups of lively flavors.

These dishes are wonderful, but you certainly wouldn't call them refreshing. Yet couscous is quite good served cold as a summertime salad. Parisian chefs use the tiny grains in their interpretation of the Lebanese salad, tabouli. Traditionally made with bulgur wheat, fresh tomatoes, mint leaves, olive oil and lemon juice, the delicious French version uses couscous instead of bulgur.

One reason couscous is so convenient for summer cooking is that there's no need to boil a big pot of water to make it. Just moisten the couscous with a small amount of hot liquid, and let it stand for five minutes to plump. Couscous even can be dessert. On Egyptian tables, a simple bowl of couscous sprinkled with sugar, raisins and toasted nuts is a beloved children's treat. I also like it as the basis for a mousse-like dessert with strawberries or peaches and whipped cream.

Couscous salad
If you have very fresh, slim asparagus, you can add the upper third of each spear raw. If you like, spoon the salad onto a bed of green or red leaf lettuce.

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 to 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
½ pound asparagus, preferably thin
1 cup plain or whole-wheat couscous
1 cup red, orange or yellow cherry tomatoes, halved, or 6 ripe plum tomatoes, diced
1 to 2 scallions, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint or basil, divided
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 tablespoons walnut halves, toasted, optional
Red, yellow or orange cherry tomatoes and mint or basil sprigs for garnish
For dressing, whisk lemon juice with a pinch of salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk in 3 tablespoons oil.
Trim tough bases from asparagus. Cut each spear in 3 pieces. Add asparagus pieces to a medium saucepan of boiling salted water and simmer uncovered over medium-high heat for 3 minutes, or until asparagus is just tender. Remove asparagus with a slotted spoon.

Measure 1 cup cooking liquid, and return it to the pan. Bring to a boil and add couscous. Cover pan and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Whisk dressing again, and drizzle 2 tablespoons of dressing over couscous. Cover and let stand for 2 minutes. Transfer couscous to a bowl and break up any lumps with a fork. Let cool completely.

Whisk remaining dressing, drizzle it over couscous, and toss gently with a fork. Add halved or diced tomatoes, scallions to taste and 2 tablespoons of the mint or basil, and toss salad gently. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, toast pine nuts in a small skillet over medium heat, shaking skillet often, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cool.

Add asparagus and pine nuts to couscous and toss salad. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add 1 or 2 more tablespoons oil to moisten, if desired.

Serve salad sprinkled with feta and remaining chopped mint or basil. Garnish with walnuts, if desired, whole cherry tomatoes, and mint or basil sprigs.

Servings: 4.
Couscous pudding with strawberries
1¼ cups strawberries, halved and sliced
3 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 cup milk
½ cup couscous
½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
¾ cup whipping cream, chilled
½ teaspoon vanilla
Small whole or halved strawberries for garnish
Cinnamon and cinnamon sticks, strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, mint and whipped cream rosettes for garnish, if desired
Put sliced strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Toss gently and refrigerate while preparing couscous. Chill a bowl for whipping cream.

Bring milk and 1 tablespoon sugar to a simmer in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Stir in couscous, cover pan and remove from heat. Let stand for 15 minutes or until milk is absorbed. Transfer couscous to a large bowl and stir with a fork to separate grains. Cool to room temperature. Stir in lemon zest.

Whip cream in chilled bowl until it holds soft peaks. Add remaining sugar and vanilla and continue whipping cream until just stiff. Gently fold whipped cream into couscous, followed by sliced strawberries and their liquid.

Spoon mixture into 4 custard cups, small ramekins or a larger dessert dish. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

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