The Egyptian King Tut Exhibit at the California Science Center inspired this post. You can read more about it here:
https://thetravelingdelanys.com/king-tut-took-my-mommy-to-see-the-mummy/
I have to confess that I wasn’t all that familiar with Egyptian food. The total of my knowledge was seeing Anthony Bourdain eat Koshary on “No Reservations” – I found the episode on YouTube and re-watched it, which led me to watch a video of “Americans try Egyptian food”, which led to “Irish people trying New Jersey food” and to “Americans trying Peruvian food”, which then led to my whole afternoon wasted – but it was entertaining!
Egyptian food has many similarities with Mediterranean cuisine: legumes, vegetables, rice-stuffed vegetables, grape leaves, fava beans, Pita bread, rabbit, pigeon, chicken, duck and lamb.
Since I wanted to try some new things (and I’m certainly not going to eat feral pigeon!), I checked recipes online. I headed to the store with my grocery list for traditional dishes Hawawshi, Koshary, and Umm Ali, because we need dessert!
First up: Hawawshi
Hawawshi
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground meat (lamb, soy, your choice)
- 1 medium bell pepper, chopped
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon ground allspice
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 6 pita breads
Instructions
- Sauté the meat, vegetables, garlic and spices in a large pan with a little bit of oil until the meat is browned and the onions are translucent.
- Let cool for 5 minutes.
- While the meat mixture is cooling, cut the pitas in half and char them a bit on the grill or in a dry pan.
- Divide the meat mixture into equal portions, fill the pita pockets and serve.
Verdict: We loved the combination of spices – they worked well together.
Next up: Koshary
Koshary – Egypt’s National Dish
Ingredients
- Tomato and Garlic Sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic, chopped
- 1 16oz can tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- Koshary
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup canned lentils (I have also used black beans, also good)
- 8 ounces elbow macaroni, prepared al dente
- 2 cups cooked long-grain rice
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground coriandar
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 - 2 cups french-fried onions
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Make the Tomato and Garlic sauce:
- Pour olive oil into a medium-sized saucepan set over medium heat.
- Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in the tomato sauce.
- Simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
- Add the water and vinegar, then turn the heat to high.
- When it starts to boil, remove from heat, season with salt and pepper to taste, and set aside.
- Combine the Koshary:
- Pour the olive oil into a heavy-bottomed 12-inch stainless steel skillet set over medium-high heat.
- When shimmering, add all of the ingredients except the fried onions.
- Sauté, stirring frequently, until heated through.
- Now assemble the dish:
- Scoop the rice mixture on a plate or bowl.
- Top with the tomato sauce and garnish with the french-fried onions.
Verdict: We liked this as well. It doesn’t seem like all of these ingredients would work together, but it does! I have since made this dish a couple of times.
And now for dessert: Umm Ali
Umm Ali
Ingredients
- 1 14 oz pkg palmier cookies
- 1 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 1/2 cup full-fat milk
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut
- 2 drops almond extract
- 1/4 cup pistachios
- 1/4 cup cashews
- 1/4 cup dried cherries Experiment with your favorite nuts and dried fruit!
- 1/2 cup heavy cream or clotted cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Break up ¾ of the palmiers into pieces into a shallow 9×9 pan.
- Lightly chop nuts & fruit mixture and add them to the palmiers.
- Cover with the shredded coconut.
- Heat milk, condensed milk and almond extract in a saucepan till warm and blended together.
- Pour the milk over the palmiers, fruit and nuts.
- Leave for 5 minutes to allow ingredients to soak up some of the milk.
- Break up the remaining palmiers and sprinkle them over the top.
- Dot with cream or clotted cream.
- Place the dish under the broiler for five minutes or bake uncovered for 8-10 minutes till the sweet sauce is bubbling on the sides and the top turns nicely golden brown.
- Turn off the heat and leave the bread pudding in the oven for another 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and serve immediately.
Verdict: This was really good, but the leftovers were not good the next day – maybe it was texture thing (too soggy for me), so I say eat it all up the day you make it.
Hope you enjoyed our little trip to Egypt via the kitchen!
Wow! Thank you for all your time, dedication, and research to bring us these yummy looking Egyptian recipes! I’m always open to bringing the culture of other countries into my kitchen. I will try the “bread pudding/baklava” and “koshary” recipes with my daughter this week and report back. Unfortunately, we will have to pass on trying the “Hawawshi” recipe for now as my teenaged daughter has proclaimed she is vegetarian and being the supportive mother I am, have proclaimed to support her!
Thanks! Let us know how you like them!