Egyptian Koshary Recipes

EGYPTIAN KOSHARI

Steps:

• Combine the lentils and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium heat for 25 minutes. Add the rice to the lentils, and continue to simmer for an additional 20 minutes, or until rice is tender.
• Fill a separate saucepan with lightly salted water and bring to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain.
• Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until onion is lightly browned. Pour in the tomatoes and season with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Simmer over medium heat for 10 to 20 minutes.
• In a large serving dish, stir together the lentils, rice and macaroni. Mix in the tomato sauce until evenly coated.

KOSHARI RECIPE

Steps:

• Sprinkle the onion rings with salt, then toss them in the flour to coat. Shake off excess flour.
• In a large skillet, heat the cooking oil over medium-high heat, cook the onion rings, stirring often, until they turn a nice caramelized brown. Onions must be crispy, but not burned (15-20 minutes).
• In a saucepan, heat 1 tbsp cooking oil. Add the grated onion, cook on medium-high until the onion turns a translucent gold (do not brown). Now add the garlic, coriander, and red pepper flakes, if using, and saute briefly until fragrant (30-45 seconds more).
• Stir in tomato sauce and pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce thickens (15 minutes or so).
• Stir in the distilled white vinegar, and turn the heat to low. Cover and keep warm until ready to serve.
• Cook the lentils. Bring lentils and 4 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot or saucepan over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and cook until lentils are just tender (15-17 minutes). Drain from water and season with a little salt. (Note: when the lentils are ready, they should not be fully cooked. They should be only par-cooked and still have a bite to them as they need to finish cooking with the rice).
• Now, for the rice. Drain the rice from its soaking water. Combine the par-cooked lentils and the rice in the saucepan over medium-high heat with 1 tbsp cooking oil, salt, pepper, and coriander. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring regularly. Add warm water to cover the rice and lentil mixture by about 1 1/2 inches (you'll probably use about 3 cups of water here). Bring to a boil; the water should reduce a bit. Now cover and cook until all the liquid has been absorbed and both the rice and lentils are well cooked through (about 20 minutes). Keep covered and undisturbed for 5 minutes or so.
• Now make the pasta. While the rice and lentils are cooking, make the pasta according to package instructions by adding the elbow pasta to boiling water with a dash of salt and a little oil. Cook until the pasta is al dente. Drain.
• Cover the chickpeas and warm in the microwave briefly before serving.
• To serve, fluff the rice and lentils with a fork and transfer to a serving platter. Top with the elbow pasta and 1/2 of the tomato sauce, then the chickpeas, and finally 1/2 of the crispy onions for garnish. Serve, passing the remaining sauce and crispy onions separately.

EGYPTIAN KOSHARY

Steps:

• Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in rice; continue stirring until rice is coated with oil, about 3 minutes. Add 3 cups water and 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Stir in the macaroni, and return to a boil. Cook the macaroni uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the it has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain well in a colander. Return macaroni to cooking pot, cover and keep warm.
• Soak lentils for 30 minutes. Drain and rinse; drain again. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a pot and stir in lentils. Bring to a boil; cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until lentils are tender 15 or 20 minutes. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onions in the oil, stirring often, until they begin to brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Onions should be a nice caramelized brown color. Add garlic and cook another minute. Remove from pan, drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
• Place half of the onion mixture into a saucepan. Mix in the vinegar. Add the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste, black pepper, 2 1/2 teaspoons salt, cumin, and cayenne (if using). Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer about 12 minutes.
• Serve by placing a spoonful of rice, then macaroni, and then the lentils on serving plates. Sprinkle with some of the browned onions, then top with tomato sauce.

EGYPTIAN KOSHARI RECIPE (THE BEST I'VE HAD)

Steps:

• Soak the dried lentils and dried chickpeas in water for 3 hours prior to making koshari.
• See note 3 if using canned chickpeas. Boil 1 cup of dried chickpeas until semi-cooked (about 45 minutes to an hour). Drain water.
• Add fresh water and 1/2 tbsp of cumin. Boil chickpeas a second time for another 30 minutes.
• Once chickpeas are cooked, squeeze 1/2 of a lime over chickpeas.
• Chop 2 medium onions into circles. Mix with flour and set aside for 30 minutes prior to frying.
• Fry in oil, preferrably sunflower oil. Using a frying spatula, remove the onions from the oil. Set onto a paper towel and set aside.
• Keep the sunflower oil to use some of it in other parts of the recipe.
• Blend 3 tomatoes, 1 bell pepper, 1/2 medium onion, and 3 garlic cloves in the food processor.
• If you would like a spicy sauce, add 1 spicy pepper.
• Add 1/2 tsp of ground cumin, 1/2 tsp of ground coriander, 1 tbsp of oil (from the fried onions), salt, and pepper. Add juice from 1 lime.
• Blend and set aside.
• Blend 1.5 medium onions in a food processor.
• In a high-rimmed stovetop pot, add 2 tbsp of oil (from the fried onions). Cook the onions on medium heat for about 15 minutes.
• Add the brown lentils (these will be about 2.25 cups after being soaked) and 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
• Turn down heat to medium-low. Add 2 cups of dry rice and 1 more cup of water.
• Add salt and pepper. Mix the koshari rice and cover.
• Continue to cook on medium-low heat covered until the rice has finished cooking (about 12 minutes).
• Turn off the stove and allow the rice to rest covered for 5 minutes.
• Boil water and add about 1 tbsp of salt.
• Break the spaghetti pasta in half, then break the half again making quarter-size sections of spaghetti. Break about 15 spaghetti noodles at the same time.
• Add the spaghetti pasta and elbow pasta to the boiling water.
• Cook the pasta until desired firmness.
• Drain the pasta and set it aside.
• Blend 5 medium tomatoes in a blender. Strain tomatoes into a bowl.
• Fry 2 tbsp of oil (or ghee) with 1 tsp chili flakes (or chili powder) for 30 seconds then add 5 minced garlic cloves.
• Add 2 tbsp of tomato paste and 2 tbsp of vinegar for about 30 seconds before adding the blended tomatoes.
• Add 1 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp of coriander, 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, and 1 tsp of ground pepper.
• Boil for about 10 minutes.

EGYPTIAN KOSHARY PASTA

Steps:

• Combine rice and pasta; spoon in bottom of shallow serving platter. Keep warm.
• Whisk together vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, and garlic powder in a medium bowl. Add cooked lentils and stir to combine. Spoon over rice and pasta.
• Combine tomatoes, water, sugar, cinnamon, salt, remaining 1/2 teaspoon cumin and red pepper in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Stir in squash. Spoon tomato mixture over lentil layer. Partially stir tomato mixture into other layers, but do not completely combine all layers. If desired, prepare crisp-brown onions as directed below and add as a topping.
• *Cook onions in large skillet with 1 tablespoon oil over high heat, stirring frequently, until brown and slightly crispy, about 10 minutes.