Prawn Orzo

This popular Libyan pasta, cooked in bubbling tomato juice rather than boiled in water, gives the dish its playful name, m’bakbaka. Libya was an Italian colony from 1912-47, and the greatest legacy of those four decades was the gift of pasta and its adaptation into local cuisine. Libyan food migrates to Egypt through its coastlines and deserts, and with the people whose heritage hails from both cultures. M’bakbaka is a hearty pasta dish flavoured with local spices and cooked i