If you are not Egyptian, please don’t be surprised by the name. Koshari – A meal filled with nutrients and rich in taste.

A combination of rice, lentil and macaroni topped with tomato sauce are mixed together in a unique way. Koshari is not only one of the cheapest dishes, but it is one of the most delicious vegetarian meals.

Recipe for 3-4 persons

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups rice (must be washed well)
  • 1½  cup brown lentils (must be washed well)
  • 1 cup small Macaroni or spaghetti
  • 4 big onions chopped as rings
  • 5 minced garlic cloves
  • Olive oil
  • 4 spoons white vinegar
  • Juice of 4 big tomatoes
  • 1 spoon tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon hot sauce (upon your desire)

Procedure:

  1. We start by frying the chopped onions rings. Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium pan over medium-high heat and leave them for 6 minutes. Once the onions turn crispy, we dry them using kitchen paper towels.
  2. We boil the lentils for 10 minutes then we add the cumin, and change the water. Now comes the Egyptian secret of making great Koshari – we add 1 spoon of the oil which was used to fry the onions rings to the new water and we put the lentil again to boil.  We add the rice to the lentil and also add ½ teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper leaving it to be completely cooked.
  3. Boil the macaroni then pour it through a strainer. Here is another secret for a really tasty Egyptian Koshari – in a big size pan we put 1 spoon of the oil which we used to fry the onions and we add 2 minced garlic cloves and fry it for 1 minute until it turns pink. Add the macaroni to the pan and leave them together for 5 minutes over low-medium heat while stirring.
  4. For the tomato sauce- put 2 spoons of the same oil we used before in frying the onions in a medium size saucepan, add 3 minced garlic cloves. When it turns pink, we add the tomato juice, 1 spoon of tomato paste, white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of hot sauce over medium-high heat until the sauce becomes heavy. If you like it spicy, you can also add 1 teaspoon hot sauce.
  5. Add the rice, lentil and macaroni to a large bowl or scoop out desired amounts of each onto the plates. Add some spicy tomato sauce on top. Sprinkle some crispy onions. For garnish you can add some boiled chicpeas on top.

Written by: Maha Abd El Kafi