Egyptian Koshari

Dreamer in Ontario's Note:

Shadya Saleh of Lotus Catering & Fine Foods (1960 Lawrence Ave. E., 416-757-8315) shares this recipe for Egypt�s national dish. You can fry your own onions or buy them fried. Many Asian grocery stores sell them. Recipe found in Toronto Star website. Note: When I made this I used long grain basmati rice rather than calrose. I've never had koshari before but this substitution seemed to work out just fine. I've changed the number of servings to 10 to 12 as I agree with the reviewer that this makes a lot more than 6 servings.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 10

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup black lentils or 1 cup brown lentils, washed
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 2 cups calrose rice, rinsed (medium grain rice)
• 3 cups water
• diced tomato (28 oz can, zaar won't recognize quantity)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pure chile powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 cups macaroni (about 1 lb/450 g)
• fried onions, to taste

Directions:

1. For Lentils and Rice, heat oil in large pot over medium, add onion and cook, stirring, 5 minutes.
2. Stir in salt, cumin and pepper and cook 1 minute.
3. Add lentils and 2-1/2 cups water.
4. Raise heat to high; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-high. Boil until lentils are three quarters cooked, about 15 minutes.
5. Add rice and remaining 3 cups water and bring to boil.
6. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 13 minutes or until rice is just cooked. (Don't overcook.).
7. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes.
8. Uncover; fluff with fork. (Makes about 9 cups.).
9. Meanwhile, for Tomato Sauce, in medium saucepan, combine tomatoes, water, oil, vinegar, garlic, cumin, salt, chili and pepperand bring to boil over high heat.
10. Cook, stirring and reducing heat as needed, until sauce thickens slightly, about 10 to 15 minutes. (Makes about 3 cups.).
11. Meanwhile, heat large pot of salted water over high and add macaroni. Cook until al dente as per package instructions. Drain.
12. To assemble, place portion of rice and lentils on plate.
13. Top with portion of macaroni, then portion of tomato sauce.
14. Garnish with onions. (Loosely, the dish should be 2/3 rice and lentils to 1/3 macaroni with a small amount of sauce and onions.).

Reviews

[fitziane]

This was good. I'm allergic to wheat so I omitted the noodles in my first try. I'll try to use gluten-free macaroni next time. I didn't have lentils but I had lots of cooked mung beans, so I used those instead and with the lovely sauce, it was just as yummy.

[UmmBinat]

This is good but I can not give it 5 stars as this no way makes only 6 servings, more like 12!! I used a good extra virgin olive oil, cooking onion, sea salt to taste, freshly ground black pepper, brown lentils, as much water as needed, white Basmati rice, a good can plum tomatoes I chopped myself. I found the garlic quite strong in the sauce, would cut that down another time, like the poster I used regular chili powder in place of pure chile powder as we don't like spicy anyway, plus the rest of the ingredients. Made for JULY 2011 NA/ME TAG :)