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EGYPTIAN DELICIOUS DISHES |
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Not a lot of people know that Egypt is not only
famous for its ancient monuments, culture and
revolution, but it is also famous for its great
food. Egyptian food is a mixture of all the
different civilizations that came to Egypt in
the history of its existence. Nowhere in the
world will you be able to taste so many cultures
in one plate. Below is a list of the most
delicious and popular dishes served up in Egypt
today. |
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Kushari |
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Considered to be the Egyptian national dish, it
consists of pasta and tomato sauce, among other
items, including rice, lentils, caramelized
onions, garlic and chickpeas. Having four
sources of carbohydrates has made it the most
popular lunch item in most common food outlets
in Egypt for over 100 years. Interestingly
enough, Kushari’s origins are not Egyptian at
all, in fact it was a dish brought in by the
British army in Egypt in the 19th century: the
pasta was imported from Italy, the tomatoes are
from Latin America and the rice from Asia,
however the idea to mix them all together in one
extremely delicious and vegetarian dish was
conceived in Egypt. |
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Ful Medames |
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One of the common staple foods in Egypt, it
consists of lava beans served with oil, garlic
and lemon juice. Ful Medames can be traced to
Pharaonic roots, and quantities have been found
in the Twelfth dynasty. The word “Medames” is
Coptic for “buried” which refers to the way it
was initially cooked: in a pot buried in hot
coal or sand. Ful Medames can be served with
many embellishments such as butter, tomato
sauce, tahini, fried or boiled eggs and
pastrami. However, the most traditional method
is to eat it plain and salted in an Egyptian
bread bun. Nowadays, Ful Medames is exported to
many Middle Eastern countries such as Syria,
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. |
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Falafel |
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Falafel is very popular in the Middle East as a
fast food. Vendors sell it on the street corners
in Cairo. As a main dish, it is served as a
sandwich, stuffed in pita bread with lettuce,
tomatoes, and tahini. As an appetizer, it is
served on a salad, or with hummus and tahini.
Falafel is a favorite among vegetarians. |
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Fatta |
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Considered a Nubian dish, fatta is usually
prepared for festivities such as a woman’s first
birth, and both Christian and Muslim holiday
celebrations. It consists of layers of rice and
fried bread, covered in a garlic and vinegar
meat soup. Large chunks of stewed beef and
deep-fried poached eggs are usually served along
with the rice and bread base. As you can
presume, Fatta is a really fattening dish, with
an extremely high calorific value; it is rarely
eaten during the year, except after a major
religious fast such as the 50 days before Easter
for Coptic Christians, or the month of Ramadan
before Eid-Al-Futr. |
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Mulukhiya |
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Mulukhiya is made from the leaves of jute and
corchorus plants that grow in east and north
Africa. In Egypt, Mulukhiya is prepared by
chopping the leaves with garlic and coriander
and cooking it in an animal stock such as
chicken, beef or rabbit, and served with
Egyptian bread or rice. Interestingly, different
cities in Egypt prepare it in different ways,
for example fish or shrimp are used as bases for
the broth in coastal cities such as Alexandria
and Port Said. During the late Tenth century,
the dish was banned by the Fatimid Caliph Al
Hakim Bi-Amr Allah, while the ban was lifted,
religious sects such as the Druze still refuse
to eat the dish in respect for the late Caliph. |
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Feseekh |
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Feseekh is a traditional Egyptian dish served
only during the Sham-El-Nessim festival, which
is a spring celebration with Pharaonic origins.
It consists of fermented, salted and dried gray
mullet. The process to prepare it, which
involves drying the fish in the sun then salting
it, is usually prepared by a specialized person
called a fasakhani. Due to the way it is
prepared, Feseekh can cause poisoning if it is
prepared incorrectly. It is usually stored in
thick glass jars that are firmly closed, as it
has a very pungent smell. It is usually served
with Egyptian bread, diced onions and lots of
lemons. |
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Halawa |
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Halawa is a middle-eastern food common across
all countries in the Mediterranean. Halawa is
made from sesame paste and is available in all
shapes and forms: blocks, hair Halawa, energy
bars and spreads. It is sometimes infused with
other types of food to add to its flavor, these
include: pistachios, pine nuts and almonds. It
is a common staple food among Egyptians and it
is eaten as a snack or for breakfast and dinner.
Halawa can be used as a main ingredient in many
other dishes, among those is the Sakalans, which
is mixture of Halawa, honey and whipped cream.
Interestingly, Halawa is one of the few foods
that can tolerate the hot Egyptian weather
without going bad, and it doesn’t need any
special storage conditions. |
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Dukkah |
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Dukkah is an Egyptian food commonly used as a
dip and eaten along with Egyptian flatbread or
raw vegetables, such as tomatoes or cucumber, as
an hors d’oeuvre or side dish. It consists of a
mixture of herbs, nuts and spices such as mint,
salt, sesame, coriander and cumin. Dukkah is
usually prepared at home and each family has a
different twist to the recipe, but it is also
sold at spice vendors in small paper cones. The
name “Dukkah” is derived from the Arabic word
“to pound” referring to how all the spices are
pounded together to prepare the dish. Outside of
Egypt, the dish is rarely known but it has found
some popularity in Australia. |
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Konafah |
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Konafah is an Egyptian sweet made of a very thin
noodle-like pastry. The origins of Konafah are
very mysterious, its presence has been recorded
in Arab medieval cookbooks in both Egypt and the
Levant and Turkey, but its exact origins have
always been unknown. Konafah is made by
drizzling long rows of the thin noodles in their
liquid state on a hot plate until they become
dry and more rigid. The now-rigid noodles are
then mixed with butter or oil and wrapped around
a filling made out of nuts, whipped cream or
both. It is baked and presented with a fruit
syrup on top. |
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Gibna Domiati |
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Gibna Domiati is a white soft cheese made in the
city of Damietta, in the north of Egypt. It is
typically made from buffalo milk but sometimes
cow milk is added to the mixture as well. It is
the most common cheese found in Egypt and is
incorporated into a lot of dishes, such as
sambousak (fried thin pastry stuffed with
cheese) or mesh (a tomato and cheese dip). Gibna
Domiati is aged for a period of 1-3 years in
large tin cans, before being eaten. Most
Egyptian families take pride in the number of
cans they have stored and for how long. In fact,
it is said that the more the cheese is aged, the
more delicious it becomes. |
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Reference: http://www.listverse.com |
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