There are dishes you eat, and then there are dishes you inherit.
Couscous el-hammama, or the couscous of the dove, is not simply food — it’s ancestral medicine, culinary art, and spiritual ritual, all in one.

Originating from Blida, a city nestled between the Mitidja plain and the Atlas mountains, this couscous is unlike any other in Algeria. It’s subtle yet powerful, sacred yet everyday, and contains more than just ingredients — it contains memory, intention, and healing.

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🌿 Key Ingredient: Wild Lavender

At the heart of the recipe are fresh wild lavender flowers:

• The flowers are crushed by hand, releasing a potent, almost sacred fragrance.
• Their juice, diluted with a little water, is used to moisten the semolina.
• Then, in the traditional method, the semolina is hand-rolled until it’s thoroughly infused with the lavender’s essence.
• It is finally steamed, following the classic steps of couscous preparation.

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🍽️ How It’s Served:

This couscous isn’t savory — it’s a sweet, herbal delicacy:

• Sprinkled with a bit of sugar
• Often served with buttermilk (leben), to soften the subtle bitterness of the lavender

This creates a dish that is both light and fragrant, bittersweet yet deeply comforting.

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🌱 Medicinal Power of Lavender:

In the traditions of Blida, wild lavender is more than a flavor — it’s medicine:

• Aids digestion
• Calms the nervous system
• Cleanses the body

It’s a healing plant, used in both cooking and herbal remedies across generations.

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💬 More Than a Recipe — A Memory:

This dish is a portal to the past.
The author recalls coming home from school to a house steeped in lavender aroma — not from the garden, but from the air, from the hands of a mother preparing couscous the old way.

Nowadays, few make semolina from scratch — industrial, pre-rolled couscous is the norm. But this memory lives on, as a call to preserve a fading tradition.