Kushari

Rice, pasta & lentils

Kushari (كشرى) is a popular Egyptian staple fast food.  It can be found in specialist Kushari joints throughout Egypt. Kushari is a simple vegitarian dish thats filling and packs a lot of flavor! 


It consists of rice, brown lentils, pasta (usually macaroni) and fried onions and is served with a spicy tomato sauce.  Kushari is a street food, and when I was in Cairo, I'd eat it almost everyday, its cheap, and really keeps you going.

The quantities I'm giving you will make quite a bit, probably enough to serve 6 people for lunch, maybe more.   

Ingredients

1 cup of rice

1 cup of brown lentils

1 tin of chickpeas

1 cup of macaroni

2 large onions/4 small onions, thinly sliced

for the sauce:

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

2 teaspoons red chilli flakes

salt

1 desert spoon pomegranate molasses/vinegar

oil

Method

Make the rice the same way you would for Ruzz bi sha'ariyah, set aside.

Boil the lentils in salted water till tender.  You may wish to add the chickpeas to this once it comes to the boil as it will soften the chickpeas.  Drain and set aside.

Boil the macaroni in salted water, drain and set aside.

Deep fry the onions till golden and set aside on kitchen paper.

Now mix the rice, lentils, chickpeas, pasta and onions together.

For the sauce, heat about a tablespoon of oil.  Mince the garlic and fry till golden.  Add the cumin and then the chopped tomatoes along with half a can of water.  Bring to the boil, add salt, chilli and pomegranate molasses and cook for about 15 minutes.  

Note(in Egypt they use vinegar in the sauce, but as I don't really like it, so I prefer to use the molasses as it also gives a sour taste, but helps to bring the sweetness of the tomatoes out too).

To assemble the dish, place some of the rice/pasta/lentil mixture into a bowl.  Top with some tomato sauce and serve warm.  This makes a delicious lunch/snack.