Koshari
Layer rice, lentils and pasta under spiced tomato sauce and crispy fried onions to build koshari, Egypt's beloved hearty street-food bowl.
65 min
Medium
Egipcia
4 servings
The story behind
Egypt's street food par excellence, koshari is what the country eats at midday: cheap, filling, and meat-free, ladled out from carts and humble shops across Cairo at any hour. Its story traces the trade routes of the nineteenth century, when rice, lentils, pasta, and chickpeas converged in a single pot. The name links back to an Indian rice-and-lentil dish brought over with British troops, to which Egypt added Italian-influenced pasta and a spiced tomato sauce. Each component is cooked separately and stacked at serving rather than simmered together, so every starch keeps its own texture instead of collapsing into uniform mush. Crowning the bowl are onions fried until dark and crisp; that deep browning brings sweetness through caramelization and a toasted bitterness that defines the flavor. A garlic-and-vinegar sauce called daqqa and a spicy tomato sauce are poured over at the end. The result is a steaming bowl of layered carbohydrates, the crunch of those onions crowning it all.
Instructions
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1Cook the rice and lentils until tender but still holding their shape.
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2Boil the different pasta shapes until al dente and drain.
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3Fry the onion slices in hot oil until they become dark brown and crispy.
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4Combine the rice, lentils, and pasta in a large bowl.
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5Garnish with the fried onions and serve with tomato sauce and a garlic-vinegar splash.
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