The most famous Egyptian meal!

In Egypt, it is difficult to define what is:
• THE national meal
• THE favourite dish of the people
• THE staple food of the land

Egyptians love food, and lots of it. But in particular the carbohydrates! No meal is complete without at least 3 carbohydrates!
So it is no surprise that the food dish here, known as Koshary (Kusharee, or any other spelling you like) is among one of the many most famous Egyptian meals!

Where does it have its origins?

There are a few histories of the dish. My favourite is that of the progressive improvement of the dish, as it passed through many nationalities:
• It is said that the origins of this dish were from India: a lentil and rice dish called Khichiri.
• It appears to have become known in Italy (1900’s) who then added pasta (of course) in macaroni form.
• During the First World War, it is said that Egyptian soldiers got hold of this dish, and passed it on to their Egyptian families.
• At this point it was made thoroughly Egyptian with the addition of chick peas and crispy onions.
So a truly international, multi-layered, added on dish, culminating in a uniquely Egyptian taste, flavour and design!

What are the ingredients?

This is a single dish, with many ingredients:
• the base layer is a starch lover’s heaven: pasta (macaroni, and a very thin spaghetti) and rice
• then is added lentils (usually brown lentils)
• the final garnish is chick peas and crispy delicious caramelised onions.
• There is also a lovely tomato/onion/garlic sauce which you add to the dish
• optional is a garlic sauce, or a zingy hot sauce (added to taste)
This may sound quite bizarre, but almost all of our guests have found this to be a memorable and filling meal.

How it is served

As with many meals in Egypt, the preparation is tedious: many ingredients and lots of time required. This is either from a takeaway shop or a specialised koshary restaurant.
The various food items are stored in large metal (silver) bowls, and traditional served on metal (silver in colour) plates.
How it is served is almost an elegant dance, as the server gathers all the ingredients into one plate. The arm of the server sweeps and swoops down in a flurry of motion, up and down the line of carefully created mounds of pasta, rice, lentils, chickpeas and onions. The pleasant sound of the metal plates beating against each other create a sound and rhythm that gets your mouth watering. Even standing to watch them serve is mesmerising!

If you are in a restaurant with a group, it can be alarming when you see how many plates one waiter is able to carry at a time: but the service is usually brisk and efficient, as there are often people waiting to be seated. So the service is quick, eating is a serious business, and then you move out to allow the next hungry customers the pleasure of eating their meal!

The nation loves it

Although there are some thoughts that this is a meal for the poor/common folk, it is a widely popular dish, beloved by almost every Egyptian I know. And it is fast growing in acclaim with our foreign guests.

So when you come, ask around and find a good place to go to, and watch how they dish up the food, look at people’s faces, and then tuck in and enjoy this uniquely Egyptian meal. Koshary is a dish shows how we can combine many cultures in one and all enjoy it together.