Koshari

This is a strange Egyptian dish, the recipe for which appeared in the newspaper. It is surprisingly delicious. I am told you can buy it as a snack on stalls in Birmingham market and one friend has eaten it, or something very like it, in Egypt. Somehow it manages to be fresh and healthy seeming while also being a mixture of ingredients which could be stodgy. It is easy as you just have to have all the different elements ready at the same time so you can assemble it while hot. I cooked this for the second time last night for friends, a little nervously as it does seems an odd combination. But it went down well, even though I overcooked the rice and the lentils. It makes plenty for 4 hungry people and it is quite good cold the next day.

Koshari

2 cups pasta, broken spaghetti and short pasta mixed - I find that this is about 6 oz
1 cup rice - the recipe states Eygptian but Basmati is what I have in so .. 4 - 6 oz is plenty
1 cup brown lentils - the same amount as the rice
Handful of vermicelli
2 onions
3 limes
4 cloves garlic
Tomato paste and a tin of chopped (you could use fresh but the tins or packets are better for this kind of than most tomatoes here)
Chilli and cumin powder

1. Cook the washed lentils in salted water, about 20 mins - be careful not to overcook.
2. Cook the pasta together in slated water - about 10 mins.
3. Cook the rice in salted water for 15 - 20 mins- the original recipe suggests you cook the vermicelli and rice together but this means the pasta disappears for me, so I would now add it in the last few minutes to the rice water.
4. While these are cooking warm a large flat plate or dish
5. Make a tomato sauce with the chopped tomatoes, adding one chopped fried onion, one tsp salt and one tsp pepper (or several good grinds of the pepper mill)and some chilli to taste, then simmering slightly and once reduced a little adding 1 & 1/2 cups water and some tomato paste. Keep simmering until it is thick.
6. Pu the crushed garlic into a pan with the juice of the limes, a little salt and one generous tsp cumin. Add 12 spoonfuls of the red sauce into this. Taste and add more red sauce until you like the flavour. Add a drop of oil to make it shine.
7. Slice the remaining onion into crescents. Put them into a dry hot pan for 3 mins or so and then add oil and fry till crisp. The first step aids crispness.
8. You now have the makings of the dish. Put a layer of pasta first, then rice, then lentils, making each layer slightly smaller so you have a dome or mountain effect. Then pour over your red sauce, then the sour sauce in the middle. Top your mountain with the fried onions.
9. Eat with a dark green vegetable or salad.