Thursday, January 28, 2010

Kushari (Egyptian Special)

Last weekend I thought of preparing a variety dish. Suddenly my Dubai days and Kushari came to my mind. Kushari was introduced to me by my friend Dina, who is from Egypt. A popular tradional dish of Egypt which is simple, healthy, tasty & also rich in protein. Sometimes we used to have this for lunch at office in Dubai. She made me craze for this. I really want my husband to try this too. Dina also gave me tips for cooking Kushari. I  would like to thank her a lot for helping me to prepare this & sharing with you all my friends.


Ingredients:
Rice (White rice)- 1 cup
Macaroni (Elbow Shaped)- 3/4 cup
Green lentils - 1/2 cup
Tomato Paste - 4 full table spoon
Garlic - 2 to 3 cloves
Onion - 2 medium (1 chopped finely, other sliced lengthwise for frying)
Red Pepper Flakes - 1 t spoon
Black Pepper - 1 t spoon (each serve)
Salt - to taste (each serve)
Olive Oil - 2 table spoon for frying onions
Olive oil - 1 table spoon


Preparation:

  1. Wash & clean rice well. Cook the rice with 2cups of water. Cook the macaroni with enough water and 1 t spoon of oil & 1/2 t spoon of salt until it becomes soft & tender. Cook the lentils with enough water until it becomes soft. Cook all the three items separately in wide opened vessels. Once cooked, drain the water from each of them and keep it aside.
  2. Heat a pan and add 2 table spoon of olive oil. Add sliced onions and fry it well until it turns brown & crispy. Keep it aside in a tissue paper & drain the excess oil from it.
  3. Again in the same pan add 1 table spoon of olive oil & add finely chopped garlic, onions and saute well till it becomes tender.
  4. Add tomato paste  to it and keep stirring with a wooden spatula.  Add red pepper flakes & salt to it. Mix well. Keep it aside. (If you prefer non spicy, don't add the pepper flakes)
  5. Take a bowl & add small portion of cooked lentils, cooked rice & cooked pasta.
  6. Layer a spoon full of cooked tomato paste, fried onions, Salt & pepper & serve individually.
  7. You can mix it well with a fork & spoon (rice, lentils, pasta , tomato paste,fried onions  salt & pepper) & enjoy the kushari.


Tips:
Instead of macaroni, you can add spaghetti or you can use combo of macaroni & spaghetti. But you have to cook separately.
Instead of tomato paste you can blend tomatoes with little water. You can add vinegar too.

28 comments :

  1. That's a wholesome meal..Thanks for introducing this special dish :-)

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  2. Very new dish for me...looks spicy and colorful...must make a filling dish :)

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  3. Never heard of this one,very interesting one...and filling and delicious too

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  4. Wow a combinabtion of rice and macaroni sounds interesting..got to try this..thanks for sharing this ....
    Deepa

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  5. interesting dish! Thanks for sharing...

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  6. new and interesting recipe...looks yummy da

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  7. So nice dear...Thanks for sharing this tempting dish...

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  8. This is something so new to me.. looks delicious.. sure to try it out soon.

    Here for the first time and should say you have a lovely blog. nice collection of recipes. Keep it going.

    you are most welcome to my blogs too. Do peep in sometime.

    Nithya
    www.4thsensesamayal.blogspot.com
    www.nitsarts.blogspot.com

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  9. wow.. thats a very different recipe... and combination!.. looks very nice :).. thank you for introducing such new recipes to us :)

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  10. Sounds interesting, very new dish to me, thanks for sharing yaar..

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  11. New to me....looks yummy.....love to try this....

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  12. Wow!!! Thanks for sharing such an interesting recipe with us dear:)

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  13. Nice one dear....thnks for sharing a different one..

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  14. Very New!!! Will try it out...Thnx 4 sharing dear...

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  15. Oh my gosh...that is simply out of this world, luks incredible...loved the pictures to the core' must have tasted great:)

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  16. first time hearing such a dish like this..really an interstind dish aparna...thanks for sharing it...

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  17. wow.Egyptian dish! so so different..looks very flavorful! Thanks for posting dear!

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  18. This is new to me..Looks so yummy!!!!

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  19. thankyou friends...this dish is not that much spicy. the red color is due to tomato paste..:)

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  20. Hi you have a nice blog.You can drop in my blog and give ur valuable comments.

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  21. Yummmmy! This would be so perfect on those days when I am craving rice and pasta!!!

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  22. Thanks for a wonderful recipe .New to your blog Do drop by
    http://padhuskitchen.blogspot.com/
    when time permits

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  23. Hi Aparna I would like to share an award with you, please collect it from my blog...nice dish...

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  24. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  25. Sounds delicious!!!!Thanks for sharing!!!!

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  26. Looks delicious...a new delight for me...you have a great space here with wonderful range of recipes...

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  27. I've been looking at a few recipes for this dish today and so far yours seems to be the most authentic.

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