Koshari recipe

Egypt's street bowl of rice, lentils, vermicelli and macaroni, layered rather than mixed, and finished with crisp fried onions, spiced tomato sauce and a sharp garlic-vinegar daqqa.

1 hour and 15 minutesmedium12 ingredients

Ingredients

• 3 onions
• 200 g brown lentils
• 250 g rice
• 50 g vermicelli
• 200 g elbow macaroni
• 250 g chickpeas
• 400 g canned tomatoes
• 9 clove garlic
• 135 ml white vinegar
• 3 tsp cumin
• 500 ml vegetable oil
• 2 tsp salt

How to make Koshari

1. Slice 3 large onions very thin, salt them, leave 10 minutes and pat dry. Fry them in 500 ml oil over medium heat for 15-20 minutes until deep brown and brittle, then drain on paper. Keep the onion oil: it flavours everything else in the bowl.
2. Simmer 200 g brown lentils in water for 20 minutes until just tender, then drain.
3. Toast 50 g vermicelli in 2 tbsp of the onion oil until nut brown, add 250 g rinsed rice and the lentils, pour in 700 ml water with 2 tsp salt, cover and cook 15 minutes, then rest 10 minutes off the heat.
4. Boil 200 g elbow macaroni until just done and drain; warm 250 g cooked chickpeas.
5. For the tomato sauce, fry 4 minced garlic cloves in 2 tbsp onion oil, add 400 g canned tomatoes, 1 tbsp vinegar, 2 tsp cumin and salt, then simmer 20 minutes until thick.
6. For the daqqa, crush 5 garlic cloves and fry them 30 seconds in 1 tbsp onion oil, pour in 135 ml white vinegar and 3 tsp cumin, boil 1 minute and take off the heat. Without this vinegar sauce it is not koshari.
7. Build each bowl in layers: rice and lentils at the bottom, then macaroni, then chickpeas.
8. Spoon hot tomato sauce over the top, then drizzle the daqqa across it.
9. Crown with a fistful of the crisp onions and serve at once; the diner stirs it, not the cook.

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