Based on Donna Hay’s recipe.

1# beef—what cut you select will determine the cooking time

2 onions

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 can tomatoes or equivalent

4 cups or so beef stock

bay leaf

cinnamon stick

couple t coriander

oregano, preferably fresh

2 lemons

salt

2 c couscous

Sweat off the onions and garlic with some oil. Add the beef, brown it. Add stock, tomatoes and their juice, bay leaf, cinnamon, coriander, and half a lemon. Squeeze the juice in and then throw the lemon in after removing seeds. Cover loosely, cook over low heat until beef is fork-tender. Time varies on cut—as little as 30 minutes for something tender like rib eye, to a couple of hours for stew meat. Remove lemon after a while so it doesn’t make the dish taste bitter.

Once the beef is tender, raise heat to reduce cooking liquid as desired. Add a handful of fresh chopped oregano, more fresh lemon juice, and salt to finish. Better the second day.

Couscous: Put 2 c boiling H2o and 2 c couscous on a bowl with a dab of butter, let stand a couple of minutes. Then place in a cheesecloth-lined steamer of some sort and steam over beef for 10 minutes. Serve beef over couscous.

You can do the beef all day in a crock pot just as well.