Koshari

Name: Koshari
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Egyptian
Ingredients: mint leaves, to sprinkle; 50 g/1¾ oz/1 heaped cup coarse or extra coarse bulgur wheat (grade 3 or 4); 150 g/5½ oz/¾ cup brown lentils, rinsed; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; Undressed Herb Salad, to serve; 400 g/14 oz onions, thinly sliced; 3 tbsp sunflower oil; 150 g/5½ oz spaghetti, tagliatelle or reshteh; 150 g/5½ oz/1 cup elbow macaroni; lime wedges, to serve; 5 tbsp olive oil; 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 small mild red chillies (or more to taste), deseeded and finely chopped; 400 g/14 oz tomatoes, finely chopped, or canned chopped tomatoes; 1 tsp ground cumin; 20 g/¾ oz/4 tsp salted butter; 50 g/1¾ oz/½ cup vermicelli broken into 4cm/½in lengths (or bought ready broken from a Middle Eastern store)

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
55 min

Appears in

The Jewelled Kitchen

By Bethany Kehdy

Published 2013

About

While koshari may be Egypt’s glorious answer to street food, the word is not Arabic but rather derived from the Hindi word khichri, meaning a dish of rice and lentils. It’s an import, brought to Egypt by the British Army.

Ingredients

5 tbsp olive oil
2 small mild red chillies (or more to taste), deseeded and finely chopped
6 ga

Africa
Egypt
Main course
Vegetarian
Mediterranean

Method

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat, add the chillies, garlic and cumin and cook for about 1 minute until aromatic. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and leave to simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, s