Koshari is Egypt’s national comfort food and a triumph of humble ingredients: rice, brown lentils and small pasta layered under a garlicky spiced tomato sauce, showered with chickpeas and a glorious heap of crispy fried onions. It sounds chaotic and eats like genius, which is why Cairo has entire restaurants serving nothing else.
The five layers
- Rice and brown lentils, cooked together with cumin
- Small pasta, elbow macaroni or broken vermicelli
- A spiced tomato sauce with garlic, vinegar and chili
- Warm chickpeas
- The crown: deeply crispy fried onions, more than seems reasonable
The method
- Fry sliced onions slowly in oil until deep gold and crisp: set aside on paper.
- Cook lentils until just tender, then add rice and cook together in the same pot with cumin.
- Boil the pasta separately.
- Simmer the tomato sauce with garlic, chili and a splash of the onion oil.
- Layer everything in bowls and finish with the dakka: garlic, vinegar and cumin whisked sharp.
The dakka makes it sing
The garlic-vinegar sauce, dakka, is koshari’s secret weapon: a few spoonfuls cut through the carbs and tie the layers together with sharp, garlicky brightness. Serve it in a little jug at the table with extra chili sauce, and let everyone tune their own bowl the way Cairo’s koshari houses do.
Cheap, vegan and magnificent
Koshari is accidentally vegan, deliberately thrifty and completely satisfying: a full pot costs pennies and feeds a crowd. Everything but the onions keeps well, making it a superb meal-prep bowl, and the leftovers reheat into something arguably better. Egypt figured out comfort food economics a century ago: the rest of us are just catching up.
Save this street-food legend, and dig into more world recipes on Plumeo. Daily inspiration at @Plumeoblog.