Hamada's Authentic Egyptian Kusherie

UmmIbrahim's Note:

The following is an authentic Egyptian recipe for restaurant style kusherie--a traditional Egyptian dish. This dish was taught to me by my Egyptian husband. It is simple, healthy, inexpensive and a real crowd pleaser! I did not include directions below how to cook the rice, you need only to cook 2 cups dry rice in your favorite chicken (or vegetable if you'd like to make a vegetarian version) stock. It seems that depending on the type of rice used, the quantity of stock and cooking time can vary, so use the kind you like and cook it the way you like.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 cup lentils
• 1 quartered garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 3 large onions
• 1 cup oil
• 6 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
• 2 cups dry rice
• salt
• chicken stock or vegetable stock
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 dash lime juice
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1 dash yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoons vinegar

Directions:

1. Chop the onions into small pieces ( I use the small electric food chopper and chop them in batches ) Reserve 1 tablespoon of the chopped onions for use later in the sauce.
2. Heat the oil on med high heat, you want the oil to be very hot before putting in the onions.
3. Add the onions in batches and fry until you get a deep brown (but not burned) color. You want them to be crispy. Be sure to watch them carefully as they go from medium brown to dark kind of quickly.
4. Drain them onto paper towels and set aside.
5. Boil lentils in water (about 4 cups) along with 1 clove garlic cut into quarters, and 1 tablespoon cumin until cooked, drain and set aside. MEANWHILE:.
6. Boil the macaroni until done (about 10 min).
7. Cook the rice in the chicken stock add salt if the broth is unsalted.
8. Put them all together in the same pot and mix well.
9. Make the sauce.
10. In 1 tablespoon oil heated over medium heat add 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tablespoon chopped onions that you reserved from before, and a dash of salt, stir and fry about 2 minute.
11. Add 1 and ½ teaspoon sugar to the onion garlic mixture and mix well.
12. Next, add one can 15 oz can tomato sauce.
13. Now add 2 tablepoons vinegar, a small squirt yellow mustard and a dash of lime juice. You can adjust the amounts according to your personal taste but it should have kind of a slight puckery bite.
14. To serve, put the kusherie onto a plate and add a SMALL amount of sauce to the top. (A little goes a long way, and you can always add more according to taste) Sprinkle the whole thing liberally with the fried onions. Mix together and enjoy!

Reviews

[Chef Louise #7]

This is a wonderful and exciting recipe. Thank you for sharing. I first saw this dish on t.v....Anythony Bourdains "No Reservations". He was in Egpt, tried this dish and loved it. Two thumbs up! Thanks again. Robin

[Leah's Kitchen]

A simple, delicious recipe. I have made Kusherie for the past few years trying different recipes here and there but never finding something that is simple and good. This is both! I love how inexpensive it is and yet hearty. We ate it for lunch today and enjoyed it. Thanks for this recipe UmmIbrahim, very delicious.

[UmmBinat]

A good 5 stars athough I changed it somewhat DH, DD & I liked it quite a lot. Here is what I did: I used brown lentils and cooked them as stated with a bit more garlic than called for and some sea salt. I think the oil can be cut down. I did not measure my pasta so I am not sure if I used 6oz. I used basmati rice and my own homemade chicken stock. I fried bite size pieces of chicken breasts in some canola-olive oil mix after the onions with a little sea salt, cinnamon and allspice added near the end of cooking. I added these chicken pieces to the dish. I did not make the sauce but served this with Cucumber Salad With Yogurt (Middle East, Palestine) without the garlic which made a very good meal.