Opening up your world
Opening up your world
There’s a reason that at YallaCook we talk about ‘Opening up your world’.
In the UK, we enjoy a truly diverse and eclectic range of cuisines from around the world. Indian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Korean, Japanese, are all now mainstream.
But Egyptian/Arabic? This is a bit of a new kid on the block.
It uses many basic and common healthy and nutritious ingredients – pulses, meats, tomatoes, spices, pastry, nuts and brings them together to create beautiful flavours and textures.
In the spirit of expanding our knowledge and understanding of foods, we’ve listed some of our favourites below.
Read on to work up an appetite!
Goulash (Filo Pastry) stuffed with minced meat
The Egyptian goulash is quite different from the goulash you think you know! It’s super flaky, buttery sheets of crunchy filo, sandwiching a layer of flavoured ground beef. There are lots of fillings you could use between the filo sheets. But the one the Egyptian community loves the most is minced meat.
Kunafa
Kunafa is one of the most famous Middle Eastern desserts. It’s a delicious crunchy dessert made with shredded pastry layers enclosing a creamy soft milk pudding. It’s drizzled with fragrant simple syrup and adorned with crushed pistachios for an elegant look.
Egyptian Basbousa
Basbousa is a sweet, syrup-soaked semolina cake that originated in Egypt and is also common in other countries. The semolina batter is baked in a sheet pan, then sweetened a simple vanilla syrup, and typically cut into diamond shapes or squares.
Koshari
Koshari is a traditional Egyptian dish. It is considered the national dish of Egypt and a very popular street food. It is very healthy and consists of lentils, pasta, chickpeas, rice, vermicelli, tomato sauce, garlic and onions and spices. The Egyptian sauce gives it the unique taste for which the dish is popular.
Macaroni Bechamel
This Egyptian version of Pastitsio is just wow, a real taste sensation. It consists of two layers of pasta with ground beef in between, then topped with a creamy bechamel sauce that is the perfect consistency. This is a very common food in Egypt, served at many Egyptian occasions and celebrations.
Om Ali
This Egyptian dessert is steeped in history, story, and tradition. It is said to have originated as a celebration of the death of Shajaret al-Durr, who had been married to Egypt’s final Sultan from the Ayyubid dynasty, As-Salih, and subsequently to the first of Egypt’s Mamluk Sultans, Izz al-Din Aybak. Shajaret al-Durr plotted the murder of Aybak, after which she became ruler of Egypt. Ultimately, she was herself killed in retribution, whereafter Aybak’s first wife, who was known as Om Ali, asked to have a dessert prepared in celebration.
The dessert was popularized throughout the country and was named after Om Ali. It’s a traditional warming and nutritious Egyptian dessert of soaked bread, milk, and nuts.
Egyptian Feteer (Meshaltet)
Feteer Meshaltet, (“cushioned pies” or “cushion-like pies”), and often simply referred to as feteer, is a flaky Egyptian layered pastry. It consists of many thin layers of dough and ghee and an optional filling. Plain feteer is usually soaked in honey and spread with jam or cheese or served with olives. It’s often referred to as an Egyptian pizza.
Feteer meshaltet has become an important symbol of hospitality in Egypt. It dates back to ancient Egypt when it was known as “feteer maltoot“. It was left at temples as an offering to the gods. Now, Egyptian families traditionally give it as gifts to visitors and friends.
Want to learn how to cook Egyptian/Arabic food yourself or teach your kids new skills? Check out our courses.
