Koshari
Cairo's street-food staple — rice, lentils and pasta with chickpeas under a sharp garlic-and-vinegar tomato sauce and a heap of crisp fried onions. Meatless and cheap, it fills Egyptian bowls through every fast.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 200 g brown lentils, rinsed
- 200 g basmati rice, rinsed
- 200 g small macaroni or ditalini
- 50 g vermicelli, broken into short pieces
- 400 g tinned chickpeas, drained
- 3 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
- 200 ml sunflower oil
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- 500 ml tomato passata
- 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- water, for cooking
Nutrition (estimated)
medium confidenceRecipe total: 3820 kcal · P 83.7g · C 393.2g · F 216.8g
Estimated from 15 of 16 ingredients
Approximate estimate, calculated from the ingredients.
Steps
Steps
- 1Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat and fry the onions for 20–25 minutes, stirring often, until deep brown and crisp. Lift them onto kitchen paper and keep the oil.
- 2Cover the lentils with plenty of water, add 1 tsp of the salt and simmer for 20 minutes, until just tender; drain.
- 3Heat 2 tbsp of the onion oil in a pan and toast the vermicelli for 2–3 minutes until golden. Add the rice, stir for 1 minute, then pour in 400 ml water with 1 tsp of the salt, cover and cook on low heat for 15 minutes. Fold in the lentils and keep covered.
- 4Boil the macaroni in salted water until tender, drain and toss with 1 tbsp of the onion oil.
- 5For the sauce, heat 2 tbsp of the onion oil, fry the garlic for 30 seconds, add the cumin, coriander and chilli flakes, then the passata, sugar and the remaining salt and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the vinegar.
- 6Warm the chickpeas in a small pan with a splash of water.
- 7Spoon the rice and lentils into bowls, add the macaroni, ladle over the hot tomato sauce, top with the chickpeas and pile on the crisp onions.
More recipes like this
Questions and answers
How long does Koshari take to make?
About 75 minutes: 15 min prep and 60 min cooking.
What ingredients do you need for Koshari?
16 ingredients: brown lentils, basmati rice, small macaroni or ditalini, vermicelli, tinned chickpeas, onions, sunflower oil, garlic cloves, tomato passata, white wine vinegar, ground cumin, ground coriander and 4 more.
How many servings does this Koshari recipe make?
6 servings. The servings buttons above the ingredients rescale every amount.
How many calories are in a serving of Koshari?
About 637 kcal, with 14 g protein, 65.5 g carbohydrate and 36.1 g fat. This is an estimate from the ingredients, not a lab analysis.
Which diets does this Koshari recipe suit?
It is vegan.
What cuisine is Koshari?
Koshari comes from Egyptian cuisine.
Sign in to rate this recipe.