Egypt
Koshari, ful medames and stuffed vine leaves along the Nile.
Iconic recipes
Koshari
Egypt's beloved street dish — layers of rice, lentils, macaroni, chickpeas and spiced tomato sauce, crowned with crispy onions.
Ful Medames
Slow-cooked fava beans dressed with olive oil, lemon, garlic and cumin — Egypt's national breakfast.
Molokhia
Silky jute-leaf soup finished with garlic-coriander tagleya, ladled over rice and chicken.
Mahshi
Vine leaves and vegetables stuffed with herbed rice and slow-cooked in tomato broth.
Fattah
Layered rice, toasted bread and lamb drenched in vinegar-garlic sauce — an Egyptian feast dish.
Basbousa
Semolina cake soaked in lemon-rose syrup, topped with almonds.
Hamam Mahshi (Stuffed Pigeon)
Cairo delicacy — squab stuffed with freekeh, onions and warm spice, then roasted until the skin lacquers.
Macaroni Béchamel
Cairo's beloved pasta bake — penne layered with cinnamon-spiced beef ragu and a thick béchamel, baked until bronzed.
Sayadeya (Alexandrian Fish & Rice)
Alexandria fisherman's classic — sea bass fried and layered over rice cooked in caramelised-onion fish stock scented with cumin.
Rabbit Molokhia
Delta farmhouse version of molokhia — jute-leaf soup made with rabbit stock and finished with a fierce garlic-coriander tagleya.
Bamia (Okra & Lamb Stew)
Baby okra pods braised with lamb in a garlic-tomato sauce sharpened with lemon — served over vermicelli rice.
Nubian Fatta with Dukkah
Aswan Nubian celebration platter — layered rice, garlic-vinegar bread, spiced lamb broth and a hail of hazelnut-cumin dukkah.
Bedouin Sand-Baked Chicken
Sinai Bedouin desert cook — a whole chicken buried in hot sand under coals with onion, garlic and cumin until it falls off the bone.
Siwa Lamb Fatta
Siwa oasis feast dish — lamb slow-braised with dates and cumin, ladled over rice and shredded bread with a spiced ghee shower.
Ta'meya (Fava Falafel)
Egyptian falafel made from split favas rather than chickpeas, blitzed emerald green with dill, leek and coriander then fried into crackling patties.
Egyptian Shakshouka
Cairo café breakfast — eggs baked in a cumin-scented pepper-tomato ragu with basterma crisped in the pan.
Feteer Meshaltet
Sa'idi 'king of pies' — paper-thin dough folded around river of ghee into laminated layers and baked crisp; served with honey or cheese.
Eggah
Thick baked Egyptian frittata of eggs, parsley, leek and courgette — cut into wedges for breakfast or mezze.
Beid bel Basterma
Cairo classic — cured spiced beef basterma crisped in ghee with eggs cracked on top, scooped with baladi bread.
Torshi Lift (Pink Pickled Turnips)
Vivid pink turnip pickles coloured by a single beet — the sharp counterpoint on every koshari and ful plate.
Baba Ghanoush
Charred eggplant whipped with tahini, garlic and lemon — the mezze plate anchor.
Salata Baladi
Finely diced tomato, cucumber, onion and parsley dressed with lemon and cumin — served at every Egyptian table.
Hawawshi
Cairo street classic — baladi bread pockets stuffed with cumin-spiced minced beef, onion and pepper, then baked or griddled crisp.
Kebda Eskandarani
Alexandria liver sandwich — slivered beef liver flash-fried with chilli, garlic and cumin, jammed into a hot baladi loaf.
Cairo Shawarma
Chicken shawarma marinated in yoghurt, vinegar and cardamom, piled into flatbread with garlic sauce and pickled turnips.
Ful Sandwich
The Cairo commuter's breakfast — mashed ful medames stuffed into a hot baladi pocket with torshi, cumin oil and chilli.
Alexandrian Sujuk Sandwich
Alexandria street stall snack — cumin-and-garlic sujuk sausage seared crisp and pressed into finger-length loaves with tomato.
Om Ali
Egypt's national dessert — puff-pastry pieces soaked in sweet cardamom milk, nuts and coconut, then baked until the top burnishes.
Konafa with Cream
Shredded pastry crisped in ghee around ashta cream, drenched with orange-blossom syrup and dusted with crushed pistachio.
Qatayef
Ramadan pancake-dumplings folded around walnut-cinnamon filling, fried and dipped in orange-blossom syrup.
Mahalabia
Milk pudding thickened with cornflour, scented with mastic and rose water, dusted with cinnamon and pistachio.
Balah el-Sham
Choux-like fluted logs piped straight into hot oil, fried crisp and drenched in cold sugar syrup — Cairo's Ramadan mainstay.
Grilled Kofta Mashwiya
Cumin-and-parsley minced beef and lamb pressed onto flat skewers and grilled over glowing charcoal for street mezze.
Sumac Grilled Chicken
Chicken spatchcocked and marinated with sumac, garlic and lemon, then grilled over coals until the skin blisters.
Karkade (Hibiscus)
Aswan and Nubian hibiscus infusion — sweetened deep red and drunk ice-cold in summer or hot in winter.
Sahlab
Winter hot drink of orchid-starch-thickened milk topped with cinnamon, coconut and crushed nuts — a Ramadan cart classic.
Erksous (Licorice)
Icy dark licorice-root infusion sold from brass urns during Ramadan — bitter, cooling and slightly foamy.
Fesikh
Mullet salt-cured and fermented for 45 days — traditionally eaten at Sham el-Nessim, the ancient Egyptian spring festival still shared by Muslims and Copts.
Kahk el-Eid
Icing-sugar–blanketed shortbread rings stamped with kahk moulds and filled with agameya (honey-sesame) or dates — made in tins for every Eid al-Fitr.
Coptic Fasting Lentil Rice
Coptic Great Lent kitchen — a vegan lentil-and-rice one-pot with caramelised onion, cumin and tomato, kept strictly free of animal fat during the 55-day fast.
Egyptian Charoset
Egyptian-Jewish Passover charoset — a dark paste of dates, raisins, walnuts and sweet wine to symbolise the mortar of the enslaved, eaten with matzah at Seder.
Zalabya (Ramadan Fritters)
Yeasted batter dropped spoonful-by-spoonful into hot oil and dunked in orange-blossom syrup — trays appear at every Ramadan iftar and Mawlid.