Cook this: Koshary with red lentil ragu from Eat, Habibi, Eat! - National Post

'Arguably the national dish of Egypt, this is a street-food concoction of pasta, rice, chickpeas, caramelized onions and lentils, all smothered in a spicy tomato sauce,' says chef Shahir Massoud

Author of the article:

Laura Brehaut

Koshary with red lentil ragu from Eat, Habibi, Eat! Photo by Kyla Zanardi

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Our cookbook of the week is Eat, Habibi, Eat! by Shahir Massoud. Tomorrow, we’ll feature an interview with the author.

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To try another recipe from the book, check out: Gido Habib’s ful breakfast; and pink and gold beet dip with pine nuts.

“This is a dish where you’re walking down the streets of downtown Cairo, just chaos, right. Traffic everywhere. And you find these little stalls everywhere where you get a big bowl of this thing for less than a Canadian dollar,” says chef Shahir Massoud of koshary, widely recognized as Egypt’s national dish.

Unlike ful, which has roots in the Neolithic period (with some claiming it originated even further back, in Pharaonic Egypt), koshary is a relatively modern addition to the Egyptian culinary canon. Food writer and historian Claudia Roden told NPR’s The Salt that she had never heard of or eaten koshary when she left her hometown of Cairo for Paris in 1952. Now, it has completely proliferated the city, and is available at street carts or sit-down restaurants.

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1. 

   Cook this: Gido Habib's ful breakfast from Eat, Habibi, Eat!

2. 

   Cook this: Pink and gold beet dip with pine nuts from Eat, Habibi, Eat!

Koshary is designed to be sustaining: rice, pasta, lentils and chickpeas topped with tomato sauce and caramelized onions, served with dakka (a garlic and vinegar condiment) and shatta (a Levantine hot sauce). Here, Massoud switches it up by saucing the pasta with lentil ragù — a nod to his time spent working in Italian restaurants.

“It’s tasty. It’s filling. And it’s meant to keep the average Egyptian, who’s not making that much money, sufficiently full, satisfied. Maybe even for the rest of the day,” says Massoud. “It’s a mishmash of things and it just works.”

Eat, Habibi, Eat! is Toronto chef Shahir Massoud’s first cookbook. Photo by Appetite by Random House

KOSHARY WITH RED LENTIL RAGÙ

Prep time: 20 minutes | Cook time: 2 hours 15 minutes

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Caramelized onions:
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
5 onions, sliced
1 tsp salt

Crispy chickpeas:
28 fl oz (796 mL) can chickpeas, rinsed
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt

Lentil ragù:
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup harissa
2 1/2 cups passata
1 cup red lentils
3 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp salt

To serve:
1 1/2 lb (680 g) ditali pasta
2 tbsp butter
3 cups cooked rice
1 cup dakka (recipe follows)

Step 1

To make the caramelized onions, heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Melt the butter and olive oil, then add the onions and season with salt. Cook on medium-low heat for 1 hour until the natural sugars have released and the onions have reduced considerably. This step can be done 1 to 2 days ahead of serving.

Step 2

To make the chickpeas, preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Coat the chickpeas in the oil, chili powder and salt. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes until crispy, shaking the pan occasionally throughout. Keep whole or crush or chop to use as a garnish.

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Step 3

For the lentil ragù, heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add the harissa, passata and lentils. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the stock and the salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 30 to 35 minutes until the lentils are tender and the liquid has mostly evaporated. This also can be done 1 to 2 days in advance.

Step 4

To serve, cook the pasta per the package instructions, undercooking it by 1 minute. Meanwhile, crisp up the caramelized onions in a separate pan with a bit of olive oil.

Step 5

Add the pasta to the large pot with the lentil ragù and add some of the pasta cooking water, just to cover. Reduce on high until the water evaporates and finishes cooking the pasta and finish with the butter. To serve, place some of the cooked rice on a large plate, add the pasta and ragù, and top with the onions, crispy chickpeas and a generous dose of the dakka.

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Serves: 6

DAKKA

Prep time: 15 minutes | Cook time: 25 minutes

1 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 bird’s-eye chilies, minced
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup beef or vegetable stock
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

Step 1

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over low heat and sweat the garlic and chilies for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the coriander and cumin and toast for another minute. Then add the vinegar, salt, stock and 1 cup water, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Step 2

Take off the heat and stir in the cilantro. Allow the dakka to cool, then add the lemon juice to keep its flavour bright.

Step 3

Store in a resealable container for up to 5 days.

Makes: 2 1/2 cups

Recipes and image excerpted from Eat, Habibi, Eat! by Shahir Massoud. Copyright © 2021 Shahir Massoud. Photography by Kyla Zanardi. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

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Cook this: Koshary with red lentil ragu from Eat, Habibi, Eat! - National Post
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