authentic Egyptian recipes
Stuffed Chicken with Lemon, Garlic and Herb Freekah The flavours of this stuffed chicken are unbelievably exciting. The freekah stuffing comes to life with the lemon, garlic and herbs, giving it a real freshness. It then absorbs incredible flavours from the chicken making it an …
Egyptians love shatta hot pepper sauce drizzled over their food.
Shatta is fabulous drizzled over grilled meat, falafel, roasted vegetables, in fact anything that you’d like to spice up a little. It’s also an absolute must with halibissah (chilli beef soup with chickpeas).
Be warned it’s a fiery sauce – not for the faint hearted. But it also makes your taste buds dance the fandango and it’s loved by many.
To reduce the heat factor you could:-
I choose to use quite mild chillies, so I get a pleasant heat but can still taste the food. That having been said, if you want an authentic Shatta sauce then just follow the recipe below.
Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and pulse until it comes together as a nice, smooth mixture.
Put the mixture into a sauce pan. Heat this over a medium heat until it comes to the boil, stirring frequently – this takes about five minutes.
Remove from the heat and pour your fiery, shatta hot pepper sauce into a sterilized jar.
Your delicious shatta hot pepper sauce is now ready to add a good bit of excitement to your food.
Once cooled store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Serve cold as a condiment.
Have fun experimenting with this recipe – if you love spicy food it’ll be an absolute winner.
If you prefer things a little less hot then try the different alternatives I’ve offered and then you’ll still be able to enjoy this flavoursome sauce.
Enjoy
Let me know how you find it.
Spice things up. Learn how to blend your spices and get phenomenal results with your cooking.
Hawowshi Scandria – Learn how to make this popular street food. – Baked bread with a delicious spicy meat filling
In Egypt, ful medames and falafel (or tamm’iya as they are called over there), is the most popular breakfast in the country without a doubt. It’s a great source of protein and very ecconomical. It’s the favourite food enjoyed by the masses.
In fact just about every street has several Ful and Falafel shops and stands. First thing in the morning they are overwhelmed with people queuing to get their tasty breakfast, ready to set them up for the day.
Served alongside the ful and falafel are spicy, fried aubergine and tomato as an accompaniment. Delicious tahini is there to drizzle over. And of course there are pickles on the side.
Although it is primarily served for breakfast, it is also great for lunch or even as an evening meal.
Ful is usually scooped up with flat bread but it could be stuffed into pita bread along with its friend falafel, a bit of salad and a drizzle of tahini. Any way you eat it is really tasty and also very filling.
In Egypt you would buy your Ful beans, freshly cooked from the stall in the street, in a little plastic bag.
In the UK you can buy cans of Ful beans from Arabic shops and even some supermarkets stock them now.
There are several different methods of preparing Ful. Each way only takes a couple of minutes to prepare.
Ful with tomato and onion or Ful with lemon and olive oil
I hope you found these recipes useful. Enjoy your ful medames.
I hope you’ll visit again soon to discover more authentic Egyptian recipes.
Let me know which way you prefer your ful medames & as always send in your photos.
Dukkah – Learn to make the perfect Egyptian Nut and Spice Blend that’s a truly moreish snack with flat bread and a little olive oil.
Lamb Fettah Lamb Fettah : Beautifully tender, succulent chunks of meat are laid over Egyptian rice which has been cooked in tasty stock. At its base are pieces of crispy bread. These have been soaked in a wonderfully rich gravy which the bread sucks up …
Koshery is a wonderful dish. It’s one of Egypt’s most popular street foods; a good, filling meal which tastes delicious. And you can prepare it at very little expense with ingredients you probably already have in your store cupboard.
Koshery combines rice, macaroni and lentils, which is then topped with a gloriously rich tomato sauce, laced with garlic and cumin. The resulting dish is not only a substantial meal but more importantly it tastes fantastic and it’s a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
If Koshery is on the menu, then this is the recipe you want to use. Every time it’s made, it gets rave reviews.
Everyone loves Koshery and it’s a brilliant option for Vegetarians and with minor adaptations it’s also great for Vegans.
Yes, Koshery is most definitely a signature dish of Egypt. You see Koshery shops all over Cairo (and of course the rest of Egypt) with their mountains of rice and macaroni. The wonderful smell of the delicious tomato sauce with its garlic and cumin filling the air. The glorious smell tempts the crowds who then queue outside waiting for their turn to enjoy this savoury delight.
There are several stories about the origins of Koshery. One is that it was introduced during British occupation in Egypt. Having previously spent time in India during the British Raj they had become accustomed to eating Kedgeree with rice, onions, smoked fish, spices and wonderful flavours and when they came to Egypt, they looked to develop something similar and Koshery was created.
Another story tells of how it was Italian influences from just across the Mediterranean that brought about its creation.
The last story is much more of a ‘Ready, Steady Cook’ scenario, where it was invented by a chef who was in a situation where there was very little of anything left in the pantry; well not enough of any one thing to prepare a meal. So instead, a meal was prepared bringing together lots of odds and ends to concoct a new dish which was apparently so popular that it went on to become one of the most popular street foods in Egypt today.
There are several components to this dish, so it’s good if you’re good at multi-tasking. Having said that everything is incredibly easy to make.
There is a traditional format to plate this up. First on the plate you have a layer of Egyptian rice. On top of this is a layer of macaroni. This then has lentils scattered over it, followed by the rich, tasty tomato sauce. The chickpeas are spread around the edge of the plate and the delicious, dark brown crispy onions then crown this masterpiece. The garlic and lemon sauce is served in a bowl with a spoon for people to drizzle over the top.
On the many occasions that I have cooked this for large groups of people (i.e., more than a dozen at a time) I broke with convention, and I found it easier to mix the rice, macaroni, and lentils together. It was then possible to serve this onto plates from just one pan rather than from 3 separate pans.
I also heated the chickpeas in the tomato sauce which I think made them even more tasty and as a result I do it this way every time now.
The crispy onions, and garlic and lemon sauce were then served in separate bowls, for people to help themselves.
If you’re cooking for a crowd you could always cook the tomato sauce the day before, or even the week before and put it in the freezer and take it out the night before to defrost. That could take a bit of pressure off on the day.
The tomato sauce takes about 45 minutes in total to cook.
Egyptian Rice cooks in about 25 minutes.
This macaroni takes around 25 minutes to cook.
Brown Lentils -15 – 20 minutes cooking time.
10 minutes to fry up the onions.
Garlic & Lemon Butter – 5 – 10 minutes to prepare.
5 minutes to warm the chickpeas.
Of course all these components are cooked up simultaneously so the whole dish can be cooked in under an hour.
To serve 6 people
If you’re using using fresh tomatoes, put them into a blender and blitz them for a few seconds until they are completely blended. Alternatively you could grate them.
Pour enough oil into a large frying pan to cover the bottom.
Put this over a medium heat and add the onions. Fry them until they begin to take on a golden-brown colour and soften.
Add the garlic and cook for just 1 minute.
Then add the blitzed tomatoes to the onions and continue cooking the sauce until it goes from being a pinkish red colour and takes on a much richer red colour and begins to thicken.
Add the stock cubes, water, cumin and chilli flakes (if you are using them).
Reduce the heat down to a gentle simmer.
Season well with the black pepper and continue simmering for a further 20 – 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Check your tomato sauce doesn’t dry out add a little extra water if necessary.
Take the pan off the heat.
Add the chopped coriander leaves (if you are using them) just before serving to ensure they don’t lose their colour.
Your delightfully rich tomato sauce is now ready to ladle over your koshery mix, and to be enjoyed by all!
Put a good drizzle of oil into a large pan. Put the pan over a high flame to heat up.
When the oil is sizzling add the rice and fry it until it begins to brown – stirring continuously.
For the next stage PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL – I would advise you to wear an oven glove on the hand you are pouring from and keep your face well back – the first lot of liquid you add to the hot rice and oil will shoot hot steam up like a full-blown volcano so be warned. The first time I did it I had the scare of my life.
So now carefully pour the hot stock into the rice. As I said be careful.
Stir the rice to make sure it doesn’t clump together Add the ghee then reduce the heat down to the lowest heat possible and cook for 12 more minutes.
Turn the heat off but keep the lid firmly in place so that the rice can finish off cooking in the steam for a further 6 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and using a fork fluff up the rice.
Now it’s ready to serve.
Keep the lid on the rice to keep it hot, it will stay hot for over 1/2 hour if you do this.
Put a little oil into a saucepan and add your macaroni.
Heat the pan over a medium to high flame, stirring constantly until the macaroni begins to toast slightly.
Add the hot stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer stirring occasionally.
Simmer for about 12 minutes until the macaroni softens. By this time quite a lot of the stock will have been absorbed. Any remaining liquid will continue to be absorbed so no need to drain.
Once the macaroni is cooked take it off the heat. Cover with a lid and keep warm until everything is ready.
Rinse the lentils thoroughly then put them in a small pan and boil them in plain unsalted water for about 15 minutes until they begin to soften.
Heat a deep frying pan (I use a wok) over a high flame.
When its well heated add some vegetable oil and allow that to get really hot before adding the onions. Fry the onions until they become very crispy and browned.
Sprinkle with a little salt once they are cooked.
Simply open the can, warm the chickpeas in a pan over a medium heat and drain – you can drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle lemon juice and chilli flakes over them if you choose.
Or you could simply drain them and add them to your tomato sauce to heat through – it’s less traditional but in my opinion its quicker, and it creates less pans to wash up.
Plus, I think it adds to the flavour of the chickpeas.
Using a small pan, start to melt the ghee over only a medium heat.
Add the garlic to the ghee straight away before it starts to get too hot, that way the garlic will cook slowly and release all its gorgeous flavours without starting to brown or char which can make it bitter.
As the ghee heats through, the wonderful rich aroma of the garlic is released into the air.
Once the butter is melted remove the pan from the heat.
Now it’s time to add the lemon juice. Add it very gradually and beat the butter as you do.
Season well with the salt and freshly ground pepper.
Your garlic and lemon sauce is now ready to serve.
As I said, start with a layer of rice. Over the rice lay a layer of macaroni. And on top of the macaroni sprinkle the lentils. Follow this with the glorious tomato sauce which will drizzle down and add flavour to everything. Crown your koshery with the chickpeas and wonderfully crispy onions to complete your masterpiece..
* A couple of years ago, my daughter and her husband visited Khan Al-Khalili, the famous bazaar in Cairo. When it was time to eat they chose Koshery. It was served with a drizzle of chilli oil over it, which they thought just took it to the next level. So you might like to try that as well and see what you think. Let me know.
Let me know how you get on. I love seeing your photos.
