Egypt's street-food staple combines rice, lentils and pasta with tomato sauce and crisp fried onion. Fully vegan, 16 g of protein a serving.
Written by
Ecem Akkaba · Dietitian
Dietitian, graduate of İstanbul Medipol University. She develops the recipes and nutrition values on FitZen.
Updated:
Egyptian Koshari – Rice, Lentils and Pasta contains 425 calories per serving: 16 g protein, 76 g carbohydrate and 7 g fat. It takes 65 minutes in total and makes 6 servings.
Koshari is regarded as Egypt's national dish and is sold on every corner in Cairo. On paper it sounds strange — rice, lentils and pasta on the same plate — but it is no accident. It is a clever solution born of economic necessity.
There is real nutritional logic here: grains are low in lysine, pulses are low in methionine. Combining them in one meal gives a complete amino acid profile without any animal product. Egyptian cooking worked this out centuries before anyone studied nutrition science.
The crisp fried onion on top is not optional — it is the dish's only crunchy texture and its most concentrated flavour.
Slice two onions into thin rings. Heat the oil in a pan and fry them over medium heat for 15-18 minutes until deep golden and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper. Keep the oil.
Boil the lentils in salted water in a separate pot for 20-25 minutes until tender but not falling apart, then drain.
Toast the rice in 1 tbsp of the onion oil for 2 minutes, add 2 cups of water and cook covered for 30-35 minutes.
Boil and drain the pasta separately. All three are cooked apart because their timings differ — cooking them together ruins all of them.
For the sauce: fry the third onion and the garlic in the remaining oil, then add the tomatoes, cumin, cinnamon, vinegar and chilli and simmer 15 minutes until thickened.
Layer on the plate: rice at the bottom, then lentils, then pasta, then chickpeas.
Spoon the hot tomato sauce over and crown with a generous pile of crisp onions. Offer extra vinegar at the table.
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