Egyptian Food: 20 Most Popular and Traditional Dishes to Try
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Loading... - Felipe Chaves
- 22 Jun 2022
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With recipes dating back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, Egyptian food is one of Africa’s most unique and fascinating cuisines.
With Mediterranean, North African, and Middle Eastern influences, the foods of Egypt are rich and wholesome and combine hearty staples with plenty of heat, spice, and kick.
Egyptian cuisine can open your palate to a wide range of diverse and mind-blowing flavors, from the rich and filling to the sharp and spicy.
Prepare for a truly unique culinary journey to one of Africa’s most famous countries, as a native writer tells us all about 20 of Egypt’s most popular and traditional foods.
Egyptian Food
Egyptian Snacks & Mains
1 – Foul Mudammas/Medames and Taameya (Fava Beans Stew and Falafel)
Foul Medames is a slow-cooked fava beans stew. It is the most popular breakfast food in Egypt in most families.
Foul Medames can be served as whole beans or mashed. The most common toppings added to it include cumin, lemon, oil, pepper, salt, parsley, onion, and butter.
There are several restaurant chains specializing in Foul Medames. Popular dishes served alongside Foul Medames include fried eggplants, fries, fried cheese, and falafel.
Falafel (Taameya) is made of fava beans and greens mixed together, shaped into balls or patties and deep-fried. Sometimes, the falafel patties are stuffed with red spicy paste; those are called Falafel Mahsheya.
Modern chains and some young chefs make cheesy falafel, which is stuffed with cream cheese before frying.
2 – Koshary (Mixture of Rice, Macaroni, and Lentils)
Koshary is a popular local food that is made of boiled lentils, rice, macaroni, and chickpeas, along with fried onions and a special Egyptian red sauce.
It is usually served with extra packs of vinegar and hot sauce, to be added to taste.
Alexandrians have their special twist to Koshary – they add grilled liver to it!
Like Foul Medames, you can find Koshary in many restaurant chains but also sold by street vendors.
This is a very inexpensive plate of food. You can enjoy a large dish, sometimes with extra liver, for just a dollar and a half!
3 – Hamam Mahshi (Stuffed Pigeons)
Stuffed pigeons is a dish you probably won’t see in many other places in the world.
The pigeons are first boiled and then stuffed either with spicy rice or grits along with onions and tomato sauce.
Then, the pigeons are either deep-fried or baked in the oven. This dish certainly has loads of fat and carbs, but the experience is worth it!
Set the fork and knife aside – you can only enjoy this dish using your bare hands!
Some restaurants add something special to the rice or grits stuffing – the pigeon’s internal organs! Yes, you read that right. You may find the kidneys and heart within the rice, only if you are lucky.
4 – Tarb (Grilled Kofta Wrapped in Lamb Fat)
Tarb is a beautiful fatty twist of the usual “Kofta“. Kofta is made of minced meat, onions, a bit of minced fat, and spices mixed together. Tarb is kofta wrapped in a layer of lamb fat that has then been grilled to a golden brown color.
There are specialized grilled meat products restaurants all over Egypt. That is where you can find Tarb.
These restaurants usually serve grilled chicken, grilled meat, Kofta, Tarb, kebab, and other grilled meat products along with rice, pasta, and desserts.
5 – Molokhiya (Jute Soup)
Molokhiya is a green soup made of shredded Molokhiya green leaves. It can be made with meat, chicken, or even rabbits!
This soup has lots of ghee and garlic hidden in there. Molokhiya is made in many different ways depending on the region.
In upper Egypt, for instance, it is served cold, and it’s called “Shalwlaw.”
In Aswan, people make it with dried Molokhiya leaves, so it is darker in color and has a different consistency than the Molokhiya served in any other place in Egypt.
Wherever you are going to have your Molokhiya, you will enjoy the nutrients coming from the broth, Molokhiya leaves, garlic, and tomatoes, which make it an immunity-boosting soup. Read More...
