posted
I was in San Francisco for 3 weeks visiting a friend of mine and since i have been away from Egypt for almost 2 months i was desperately looking for a koshary or any Egyptian dish. I have been told that there are bunch od places in San Francisco that have koshary, i kept looking for one and finally i found one in Fillmore street. I took my friends and went there to eat our fav Egyptian dish ever "The Koshary" We entered the restaurant and they had sheesha "hookah" lounge outside and inside was the restaurant. The owner was Palestinian and it didn't even cross his mind that i m Egyptian, he spoke to one of my friends in Arabic and to me and the other girl in English and when i replied in Arabic he was shocked maybe cause of my hair or how i look but he was so happy that we are Egyptians and then i asked about the koshary right away he replied "yes we have koshary but we are trying hope you like it"!! Trying dude! Its the easiest dish on the planet! Anyways we decided to give it a try despite of the high price US$11!! We kept waiting for 30 min!! then i was shocked! The koshary was yellow! and tasted like **** and the sauce was gross, bottomline it was fake!! The Palestinians gave koshary a bad reputation in San Francisco In Egypt it tastes way better than how Palestinians do it in San Francisco! Well it was an experience but nor a good one I miss the Egyptian koshary soooo much Posts: 1123 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Yellow koshary? Was the sauce yellow or did they use orange lentils? How does one mess up koshary???
Posts: 2735 | From: my desk | Registered: Jul 2005
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-------------------- HandsUpHandsDown is that american woman who used to be known as "ana huna" in ES! Strange but true. Posts: 1123 | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by bokragirl: I love koshary! I wish I could find a good recipe for it.
Taken from somewhere else, im sure he wont mind
best Koshary recipe ever!
Firstly, the main recipe
2 cups basmati rice washed 2 cups brown lentils washed 2 1/2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup vermicelli pasta 1 small can of chick peas, drained (optional) 1/2 cup cooked elbow macaroni (optional)
Fry the vermicelli in the butter, when golden brown add the rice and stir till all grains are coated. Add 3 cups of water bring to a boil, cover and simmer on lowest possible setting. Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the lentils and cover and cook (really it is a steaming method) on lowest setting until tender (but not until they burst) in the last 10 minutes of cooking add the chickpeas if any. When the lentils are done drain any remaining liquid.
To assemble you can just mix it all but because everything is tender, the lentils, rice and chickpeas may breakdown and look unsightly. Instead make a layer of each of the ingerdients (rice, lentils, chickpeas, macaroni) with a sloted spoon and spread on the serving dish in layers. Making layers also allows you to have the koshari in the exact proportions that you like. Better yet serve every person individually according to their preference. (I don't like macaroni in mine) just like they do it in a "restaurant" .
Secondly, no koshari without the hot sauce:
1 large can of whole peeled or crushed tomatoes 2 Tablespoons hot chili paste (Moroccan harissa or Mexican chipotle in adobo sauce) (or more if you can take it) 1/4 cup of oil 8 cloves of garlic sliced (or more) 3 Tablespoons vinegar 1 Tablepoon of ground cumin Salt pepper to taste
Fry the sliced garlic in oil until they start changing color. Add the can of tomatoes and the chili paste, salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle boil, turn the heat down to low. Add the cumin and the vinegar, leave it simmering for 15 minutes. Put it all in the blender to make a smooth mix. At this point you can still adjust the ingredients to suit your own taste, in particular the garlic, chili and vinegar.
No koshari without the garnish of crispy carmelized onions
3 large onions sliced into rings. Put some oil in a large pan add one tablespoon of butter for added taste. Sautee the onions rings until they turn deep deep brown (just short of charred). Make sure that the onion rings do not overlap each other so that they can crisp nicely. If your pan is too small do it in batches. No part of the onions should be even lightly brown. Stir to keep them from burning. This may take 20 minutes or more. You must taste something that reminds you of candy rather than onions.
Drain on a paper towel and keep others from taking samples. In my experience that is the one ingredient that runs out the first. It should be somewhat crispy not soggy and limp.
Posts: 15090 | From: http://www.egyptalk.com/forum/ | Registered: Jul 2004
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-------------------- HandsUpHandsDown is that american woman who used to be known as "ana huna" in ES! Strange but true. Posts: 1123 | Registered: Oct 2005
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