Koshari
Often called Egypt's national dish, and sold for decades from Cairo carts and canteens. It looks like a random mixture, but every element has a job: rice gives the base, lentils earthiness, pasta texture, tomato sauce acidity, onions crunch, and a sharp vinegar sauce ties it all together. There is one rule: the components are cooked separately and combined only in the bowl — each has its own cooking time, and thrown into one pot they would cook unevenly.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Fried onions 30 min
- Lentils and rice 30 min
- Two sauces 20 min
- Assembly 10 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneCoat the onions in starch and fry dark
Toss the sliced onions in the cornflour and shake off the excess. Heat the oil to 170°C in a small, deep saucepan and fry the onions in batches, each about 10–12 minutes, until deep brown and crisp (about 30 minutes in all). Drain on paper towel and salt lightly. The starch helps the onions stay crisp longer under the sauce — without it they soften much faster.
Ingredients: 4 pcs onions · 2 tbsp cornflour · 400 ml oil
Starch helps the onions stay crisp longer.Cook the lentils until tender
Cook the lentils in salted water for 25 minutes, until tender but with the grains still whole. Overcooked they turn to purée and the whole layered construction loses its point. Drain and toss with the cumin.
Ingredients: 200 g brown lentils · 300 g rice · 150 g pasta · 250 g chickpeas · 1 tsp cumin · 2 tsp salt
Cook the rice separately
Cook the rice in plenty of salted water (about 12 minutes, until tender) and drain. Separately, not with the lentils — many Egyptian homes cook them together, but separately it is easier to get each one right: the lentils need about 25 minutes, the rice about 12.
Ingredients: 200 g brown lentils · 300 g rice · 150 g pasta · 250 g chickpeas · 1 tsp cumin · 2 tsp salt
Cook the pasta and rinse it
Cook the pasta al dente, drain and rinse under cold water. Rinsing removes the starch so the pasta does not glue itself to the rice into a single mass during assembly.
Ingredients: 200 g brown lentils · 300 g rice · 150 g pasta · 250 g chickpeas · 1 tsp cumin · 2 tsp salt
Cook a thick tomato sauce
Fry the chopped garlic with the chilli and coriander in the oil for a minute, add the passata and vinegar and cook 15 minutes until thickened. Season with salt. Vinegar in a tomato sauce is the Egyptian detail — its acidity balances the weight of the rice, lentils and pasta.
Ingredients: 600 ml passata · 5 cloves garlic · 3 tbsp wine vinegar · 1 tsp chilli flakes · 1 tsp coriander · 3 tbsp oil
Mix the sharp daqqa sauce
Crush the garlic with salt, add the vinegar, water, cumin and chilli. This sauce is served separately, in a small dish — everyone adds as much as they want. It supplies the heat and acidity the dish itself lacks.
Ingredients: 4 cloves garlic · 100 ml wine vinegar · 60 ml water · 1 tsp cumin · 1 tsp chilli flakes
Two sauces apart — tomato on top, vinegar in a dish.Layer, do not stir
In a bowl put rice, then lentils, then pasta, keeping the layers distinct. Do not stir — koshari is eaten from the top, the spoon breaking through each layer, and every mouthful should differ slightly.
Ingredients: 200 g brown lentils · 300 g rice · 150 g pasta · 250 g chickpeas · 1 tsp cumin · 2 tsp salt
Layers kept apart — the spoon breaks through from above.Add the sauce and a mountain of onions
Pour over the tomato sauce, scatter the chickpeas and pile fried onions on top. There should be a lot of them — they are the finish by which good koshari is recognised. Serve with a dish of vinegar sauce.
Ingredients: 4 pcs onions · 2 tbsp cornflour · 400 ml oil
Before you start
Everything can be made ahead
Koshari is a dish of separate components, so it prepares beautifully in advance. Rice, lentils, pasta and both sauces keep up to three days in the fridge (cool the rice quickly and chill it straight away); fry the onions fresh or keep them two days in an airtight jar.
The pasta is not arbitrary
Koshari is often described as a culinary record of Egyptian history: pairing rice with lentils is credited to the influence of Indian khichdi, tomatoes came from the Americas, and the short tubes or broken spaghetti — according to the popular version — from the kitchens of Italians living in Egypt. Lentils themselves have been grown along the Nile since antiquity.
Vinegar sauce to taste
Daqqa is very hot and markedly sour, as it should be — in Cairo canteens it often stands on the table in a bottle and everyone adds their own. Do not stir it in during cooking; that is the eater's decision, not the cook's.
