Egyptian Koshari Recipe (The Best I've Had)

4.68 from 40 votes

Egyptian Koshari Recipe (The Best I've Had)

Koshari is a hearty vegan meal of lentil rice, chickpeas, spicy vinegar tomato sauce, pasta, and fried onions. This Egyptian koshari recipe is an authentic family recipe, and it makes a large quantity. It's perfect for meal prepping or feeding a crowd. It does take a bit of time to make, which is why the serving size is set high (so you can enjoy leftovers).

Servings:

Ingredients

Chickpeas

1 cup dried chickpeas or 2 - 15 ounce cans of chickpeas** See note 3
2 teaspoon ground cumin
½ lime

Fried Onions

1½ lbs onion about 2 large onions
6 tablespoon flour to toss the onions in prior to frying
oil for frying preferably sunflower oil** See note 5
salt to taste

Fresh Red Sauce (Optional)

1 lb tomatoes
6 ounces green bell pepper
6 ounces onion
3 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon oil from the fried onions
1 lime
salt and pepper to taste
1 spicy pepper optional

Koshari Lentil Rice

1 cup dried brown lentils see note 8
2 cups dry Calrose rice or short-grain rice **See note 4
1¼ lbs onion about 1½ large onions
4 tablespoon oil from the fried onions
4 cups water

Pasta

8 ounces elbow pasta
8 ounces dried spaghetti

Traditional Koshari Red Sauce

2¼ lbs tomatoes see note 7 for substitution of canned passata
2 tablespoon ghee
1 teaspoon chili flakes or cayenne powder optional
9 garlic cloves
3 tablespoon tomato paste
3 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper or to taste

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Soak Dry Lentils and Dry Chickpeas Ahead of Time

Soak the dried lentils and dried chickpeas in water for 3 hours prior to making koshari.

Prepare the Chickpeas

See note 3 if using canned chickpeas. Boil the dried chickpeas until semi-cooked (about 45 minutes to an hour). Drain water. Add fresh water and the ground cumin. Boil chickpeas a second time for another 30 minutes. Once chickpeas are cooked, squeeze the lime over the chickpeas.

Fry the Onions

Chop the onions into circles. Mix with flour and set aside for 30 minutes prior to frying.
Fry in oil, preferably sunflower oil. Using a frying spatula, remove the onions from the oil. Set onto a paper towel and set aside. Salt as desired. Keep the sunflower oil to use some of it in other parts of the recipe.

Make the Fresh Red Sauce (Optional)

Blend the tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, and garlic cloves in the food processor. If you would like a spicy sauce, add 1 spicy pepper. Add the ground cumin, ground coriander, oil (from the fried onions), lime juice, salt, and pepper. Blend and set aside.

Make the Koshari Lentil Rice

Blend the onions in a food processor. In a high-rimmed stovetop pot, add the oil (from the fried onions). Cook the blended onions slowly on low heat for about 10 minutes.
Add the drained brown lentils (these will be about 2.25 cups after being soaked) and water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes covered, or until they soften.
Turn down the heat to medium-low. Add the short-grain rice, salt, and pepper. Mix the koshari rice and cook on medium-low heat covered until the rice is tender (about 12 to 15 minutes). Turn off the stove and allow the rice to rest covered for 5 minutes.

Cook the Pasta

Boil water and add about 1 tablespoon of salt. Break the spaghetti pasta in half, then break the half again making quarter-size sections of spaghetti. Break about 15 spaghetti noodles at the same time.
Add the spaghetti pasta and elbow pasta to the boiling water. Cook the pasta until desired firmness. Drain the pasta and set it aside.

Koshari Vinegar Red Sauce

Blend the tomatoes in a blender. Strain tomatoes into a bowl. Alternatively, use canned tomato passata (see note 7). Mince the garlic cloves.
Fry oil (or ghee) with 1 teaspoon chili flakes (or chili powder) for 30 seconds then add the minced garlic cloves. Add the tomato paste and vinegar for about 30 seconds before adding the blended tomatoes.
Add the ground cumin, ground coriander, salt, sugar, and ground black pepper. simmer for about 10 minutes.

Assemble the Dish

Layer the dish, starting with lentil rice on the bottom, then cooked pasta, chickpeas, koshari vinegar sauce (and optional sauce), and top with fried onions.

Video

Notes

Store koshari rice, pasta, fresh red sauce, koshari vinegar red sauce, fried onions, and chickpeas separately in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Whole wheat pasta is a suitable substitution.
Substitute 2 cans of chickpeas (15-ounce cans) for 1 cup of dried chickpeas. Because canned chickpeas are already cooked, just drain the chickpeas. Boil for 5 minutes in water with ½ tablespoon of ground cumin. Then squeeze ½ a lime on top.
Use Calrose rice, Egyptian rice, or Japanese short-grain rice for this recipe. If using medium or long-grain rice, add an extra cup of water.
I prefer sunflower oil because it makes crispy fried onions, but you can use any frying oil available. Also, save the frying oil after frying the onions to use in other parts of the recipe.
The nutrition facts do not factor in the oil from frying the onions.
Tomato passata is like tomato sauce. It's strained blended tomatoes. Instead of making homemade passata, you can use canned passata. Substitute a 24 ounce bottle for 2 ¼ lbs fresh tomatoes.
Substitute green lentils for brown lentils.

Nutrition