Koshari
Egypt’s national street food: rice, lentils, pasta and chickpeas under spiced tomato sauce, garlic-vinegar dakka and a crown of crispy onions.
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 50 min
- total
- 1 h 10 min
- serves
- 6
- level
- medium
Koshari is carbs in solidarity: rice, lentils and pasta in one bowl, with chickpeas for company. Each part is cooked plainly on purpose, because the electricity comes from what goes on top: a cumin-chili tomato sauce, a sharp garlic vinegar called dakka, and a heap of properly crispy onions.
In Cairo it is lunch for millions. At home it is the best thing that ever happened to a half-empty pantry.
Koshari is one of the world's classic dishes from 67 countries.
method
Fry the sliced onions in a generous layer of oil over medium heat, stirring, until deep even brown, 15 minutes. Drain on paper; they crisp as they cool. Keep the oil.
Cook the lentils in salted water until just tender, about 20 minutes. Cook the rice. Cook the pasta. Keep each warm.
Sauce: fry 4 minced garlic cloves in 2 tablespoons of onion oil, add the passata, half the cumin, the coriander and chili, and simmer 15 minutes. Finish with 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
Dakka: whisk the remaining vinegar with 2 crushed garlic cloves, the rest of the cumin, a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of water.
Build each bowl: rice, lentils, pasta, chickpeas, a ladle of sauce, a spoon of dakka, and a serious handful of crispy onions.
chef's tips
- The onions are half the dish. Fry them patient and brown, not blond.
- The dakka looks optional and is not; the vinegar is what makes the bowl bigger than its parts.
- Every component keeps for days, which makes koshari the meal-prep dish it accidentally always was.