What is Egyptian Cuisine?
What is Egyptian cuisine?
Egyptian Cuisine has Many Plant Based Dishes
Egyptian cuisine, is famous for its rich and diverse ingredients. It’s a fusion of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and African food.
To a great extent Egyptian food is plant based. It relies heavily on vegetables, incorporating plenty of beans and pulses into many of the dishes. Meat and fish are served more as a special treat.
Unbelievable flavours as a result of the Blended Spices and Herbs
Spices and herbs are carefully blended to infuse unbelievable flavours and aromas into the food.
The majority of Egyptians are Flexitarians
I guess you could say, the majority of Egyptians are true Flexitarians and have been for many years, long before it became a popular trend.
Meat is incredibly expensive in Egypt and the majority of the population wouldn’t eat it on a regular basis. When I say expensive we are talking about a kilo of meat costing the equivalent of 2 days wages for an unskilled man.
“Not surprising they’re flexitarians!” I can hear you saying. In its place, pulses and beans are used extensively and creatively as a source of protein.
Egyptian cuisine is great for our vegetarian and vegan friends
As a result, Egypt is a great place for vegetarians; there’s just so much choice, food wise.
Many different influences resulted in the food we now regard as Egyptian
Egypt has taken the best of a number of different cuisines and adopted them into the food now regarded as Egyptian.
“The Silk Road” brought exotic spices.
Egypt’s geographic positioning meant that traders travelling from the Far East along the “Silk Road” to the Maghrebs (North West Africa), centuries ago, passed through Egypt. They were selling not only their silks and fine fabrics but also their wonderful spices. And to this day these spices are still a very important component of Egyptian cooking, creating exotic rich flavours. At the same time these traders introduced new and exciting ways of preparing food and these were also adopted.
The Ottoman Empire introduced wonderful rich flavours to Egyptian cuisine
Another great influence on Egyptian cuisine was the Turkish occupation. The Turks, under the Ottoman Empire, ruled Egypt for over 300 years until the early 1800s. The Ottomans were renowned for their cuisine and their stringent table manners. Their influence enriched Egyptian food and its culture as is evident and many similarities can be drawn.
Ladies skillfully blend fragrant spices to create luscious, rich flavours
In Egypt, ladies do virtually all the cooking in the home. They have a reverence for the art of cooking, preparing everything from scratch, using fresh ingredients. They take great pride in their cooking skills and they have the ability to take quite basic ingredients and elevate them to unrecognisable levels.
These wonderful cooks skilfully blend fragrant spices, and with the addition of fresh herbs, they produce fantastic cuisine with exotic rich flavours. These skills are something you’ll learn here at “Secrets of a Cairo Kitchen”.
So if you’re looking to ignite your cooking skills and elevate to the next level, stick around and find out more.
We bring you “Real Egyptian Cuisine”
The Egyptian food “Secrets of a Cairo Kitchen” brings to you is “Real Egyptian Cuisine”.
By “Real Egyptian cuisine” I mean the food cooked by Egyptians, in their homes, as opposed to food which is served in restaurants and hotels in Egypt which has been adapted to be more “western”, for the tourists.
“Secrets of a Cairo Kitchen” aims to bring you the best recipes for the food Egyptians actually eat.
Are you ready to ignite your cooking skills?
So, if you’re looking to ignite your cooking skills, elevate to the next level, and discover some incredible new dishes, check out the recipes here at “Secrets of a Cairo Kitchen”.
Here are a few to get started with:-
Kosheri, considered by many to be the national dish of Egypt.
This national treasure is a delicious, cheap and filling dish of rice, macaroni and brown lentils topped with a rich tomato sauce, enhanced with chickpeas and crispy fried onions. It was brought to Egypt during the era of British colonisation in the late 1800s, adapted from a dish they ate in India during the British Raj.
Molukheya, the iconic Egyptian soup; gloriously rich, dark green in colour, highly nutritious and laced with garlic. This soup was so prized during the times of the pharoahs that no commoners were allowed to eat it , only Royalty had that honour.
Falafel – known as Ta’ameya in Egypt, is Egypt’s all-time favourite street food and is also one of its most popular breakfasts.
Ta’ameya are made with fresh herbs and ground fava beans, unlike falafel made elsewhere in the Middle East which are made using chickpeas.
Baklava, a delicious pastry dessert made up of layers of crispy filo dough, chopped nuts, and fragrant syrup. It was introduced to Egypt during the Ottoman Era.
These are incredibly popular pastries and surprisingly easy to make.
Shakshuka – a full flavoured breakfast or supper dish of eggs poached in a wonderfully rich & spicy tomato & bell pepper sauce, thought to have originated in Maghrebi (Morocco / Tunisia) and introduced to Egypt by traders travelling the Silk Road.
Lamb Fattah – the quintessential Egyptian festive meal.
Layers of seasoned, toasted pita bread are soaked in rich stock and covered with fragrant rice. This is topped with a glorious lamb stew and drizzled with a full- flavoured tomato and garlic sauce.
Bursting with bold flavours and textures. It’s a real crowd pleaser.
What’s you favourite Egyptian dish? Share your thoughts with us, we love to hear from you.