Usban — Algeria

Usban, also called osban or osbana, is a Maghrebi dish of stuffed tripe: a cleaned sheep stomach filled with a seasoned mixture of rice and meat, then simmered until both the casing and the filling are cooked through. It belongs to a family of stuffed-organ dishes found across North African kitchens. It is prepared in Algeria as well as in neighboring Tunisia, Morocco and Libya, each with its own version and its own place on the table; no single country's version stands as the reference point. It is generally served at Eid al-Adha or for other large gatherings, as an accompaniment to couscous or rice rather than as a standalone dish. The tripe is turned inside out, scraped and rinsed thoroughly until clean, while the filling is prepared from rice mixed with ground lamb, often including liver and heart, along with spring onion, tomato, herbs and spices. The tripe is stuffed loosely, since the rice expands as it cooks, then sewn shut and simmered gently in water for around an hour and a half. Once tender, it is drained, unstitched and sliced into rounds before serving, warm, alongside the main dish it accompanies. The spice blend, the ratio of rice to meat, and whether liver and heart are included all vary between households and between the countries where the dish is made, without any version claiming precedence over another.