Koshary Recipe

Monday, July 12, 2010

When we were in Egypt, our fave driver, Zaki took us to a wonderful restaurant for a traditional meal called Koshary. (Or Kusheri, Kosheri, Kushery, etc.... multiple spellings!) Sean and I tried to make it tonight and this was one meal that was a delicious success! So here's the step by step.

Start by stirring two cups of rice into 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil. Stir the rice around until its all coated. Then add three cups of water. Bring the water to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Cook for 20-25 minutes. Also, cook a bag of short elbow macaroni. (I didn't have a picture of this.)

Next, put some lentils on! Add one cup of Lentils to two cups of boiling water. (Salt the water a little bit while its boiling.) Cover and reduce heat. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until they are the desired consistency.

Next, chop up two onions and 4 cloves of garlic.

Oh yeah, add a can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) to a pot and heat them up, too.

Add the onion/garlic chop to 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil. Cook and stir these for about 10 minutes until they are golden brown. (Its starting to smell reeeallllly good now, right?!)

Once the onions are browned, add 3 Tablespoons of white distilled vinegar.

Add in a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce.

Add 2 1/2 teaspoons of ground cumin. Shake in some salt and fresh ground black pepper

(You may want to add some extra sauce... our's wasn't quite the right consistency-- we like the sauce to be a little thinner.) Let the sauce come to a boil, then simmer for about 12 minutes.

Get these ready too-- fried onions. The only thing ya gotta do is open the bag! Easy peasy.

All my burners are busy!

Now its allllll ready to assemble!!! Start with a layer of rice...

Then add the pasta.

And now for the fun part.... add the fried onions, chick peas, and lentils on top... have fun with the way you layer these on!

Mine and Sean's!

Finally, add the sauce to the top. Or you can put the sauce in a bowl and just spoon some in on each bite.

Yuuuummmmmm!!!!

Its so easy and super yummy! And its a vegetarian meal. (Not that I really care about that, but its nice to switch things up with a meatless alternative every now and then.) And here's the best part about this meal: its cheap! It makes a TON of food, and all the ingredients are fairly inexpensive-- often things we have on hand in our pantry. I couldn't even eat my who bowl of food-- enough for my lunch tomorrow. AND we have a ton of leftovers for the rest of the week, too.