Mhammes (pearl couscous)

Warda mhammes (spelled 'Mhammas' on the pack) is a soup pasta shaped as large round pearls, made in Sousse, Tunisia, from 100% durum wheat semolina. Warda offers it in two sizes, Mhammas 1 (the finer grade, around 13 minutes cooking) and Mhammas 2 (larger). It is a staple Tunisian shoppers know as well as couscous.

In the kitchen, mhammes is cooked straight in the sauce or broth, where it soaks up flavour without falling apart. In Tunisia it is served as a red soup with tomato and harissa, or as a full meal with meat. In Algeria the same pasta is called berkoukes or aich and is simmered with vegetables and chicken, especially in winter.

Why list it

• Identity product: Tunisian and Algerian customers ask for it by name and buy it wherever they find it.
• Strong winter and Ramadan seasonality, when soup is on the table every evening.
• Single-ingredient recipe with no additives, easy to promote.
• 24 × 500 g bags per case, consistent with the rest of the Warda range.

How to use it

Mhammes is added dry to a tomato broth and simmered for about fifteen minutes while stirring; it swells and thickens the dish. Shelve it in the world-foods aisle with the other Warda soup pastas (langues d'oiseau, cheveux d'ange, chorba frik), tomato paste, harissa and ras el hanout. A shelf tag reading 'Tunisian soup' or 'berkoukes' helps shoppers who do not know the name.