Egypt

Photo courtesy of user runintherain on Flickr

Sigh.  I took pictures.  And I didn't even drop the camera.  But then the memory card decided that it didn't want to work.  So I lost them all.  Such is life...

History: The first unified Egyptian kingdom arose circa 3200 BC.  The last native dynasty fell in 341 BC to the Persians.
More Recent History: Egypt recently had their first presidential election since the fall of the former president Hosni Mubarak.

Location: Northern Africa, bordering Asia
Area: About 1 million sq km; 30th largest in the world; Slightly more than 3 times the size of New Mexico
Geography: Egypt controls the Sinai Peninsula (only land bridge between Africa and the rest of the Eastern Hemisphere) and the Suez Canal (Sea link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea).
Ethnic Groups: 99.6% Egyptian
Population: Almost 84 million; 15th largest in the world
Capital: Cairo
Public Debt: 85.7% of GDP; 17th highest in the world

Source: CIA Factbook

Egypt's importance in global history could be demonstrated by looking in most grade schools and seeing how many projects and lessons are done on Ancient Egypt.  Personally, I remember doing a group project where we built an ancient Egyptian village out of sugar cubes and various other grade school construction materials.  I'm sure that many of you have similar memories.

Today, I learn most of my Egyptian news from podcasts, mostly PRI's The World.  Egypt's world influence continues even now.  The protests and regime changes in the Arab world did not stop nor end with Egypt, but it seemed as though their protests truly held the world at attention.

I have one personal source for information on Egypt: my friend Laura.  She studied abroad there for a full year in college.  When I asked her for a recommendation on a recipe, she immediately and emphatically responded with "Koshari."  I sent her a few recipes to make sure they looked right and this was one of them that got the stamp of approval, as long as I used elbow noodles.  So now we have a plan!

One of my international cookbooks also had some Egyptian recipes to help me round out the meal.  I picked falafel and hummus.  I know that hummus isn't necessarily Egyptian, but it is the right region and it was on the same page as falafel.  That counts, right?

Also, I apologize.  Usually the pictures help me remember everything I did, so this will probably be even more scattered than normal.

I had to soak the chickpeas for both the falafel and the hummus the night before.  Yay planning.  The falafel recipe told me that I would have to skin all of them after they soaked.  Really?  You want me to skin two cups of beans?  I looked up other recipes and they didn't include this step, so I ignored it.  My rebel status is cemented.

The falafel was going to take the longest, so I started there.  The first step is to blend them all.  Attempt one: food processor.  There were too many beans (Picture chickpeas falling everywhere.)  Attempt two: blender. I didn't put them all in, and figured I would add some slowly.  Blend!  It only works on the bottom ones.  Try again!  Still no go.  That's when I decide to use my spoon to push them down.

Now, more than ever, I wish I had pictures to show you.  You could see the spoon with a large chunk taken off of it.  You could see splinters in among the not-so-blended chickpeas.  You could see that we didn't-so-much have falafel for dinner that night.

Lesson learned.  Next time use metal.
Just kidding.
Maybe.

One down (for good), two to go!

The chickpeas for the hummus were still usable though, which was good.  They also (if I am remembering correctly) fit in the food processor.  I processed them with some tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and water.  I also added a bit of salt and pepper, as it prescribed.

After blending, I topped it with some paprika and olive oil.  They recommended serving it with radishes and olives, but instead we had some pita chips.  Who would go the healthy way?

For the Koshari, I couldn't actually find brown lentils.  There were red and I think green, but no brown.  I just figured that regular, no-color-specified lentils were brown, then.

There really isn't too much to write about this without pictures.  You cook the lentils, rice, and noodles.  Fry the onions and garlic, then add all of the other ingredients to make a sauce.  I do remember reading some comments that it needed a little more flavor, so I added some extra red pepper flakes.  A LOT of red pepper flakes.  I also know I used a red onion because I had already chopped that up for the falafel before the disaster.

The lentils, rice, and noodles become the base for the dish, and the rest is a sauce on the top.  And I don't need a picture for this part, because it actually looked like the picture with the recipe.  No joke.  I remember thinking that when I served it, too.  Hey, I did something right!

The hummus was...okay.  It felt like something was missing.  It almost felt like it needed to be roasted or something.  The flavor was very flat.  Normally I love hummus.  Does anyone have a good recipe that they recommend?

The koshari, however, was quite delicious.  It was filling and flavorful.  Maybe a bit too much.  The spice ended up being more that I would normally like.  I could still eat it though.

I think the change I would make would be to double the sauce, as I saw some people suggest in the recipe comments.  The ratio just seemed a bit off - too much starch, not enough sauce.  And for a vegetarian dish, it went over pretty well.  I think I'll be serving this one during Lent.  And even if you change the sauce, the idea of a lentil-rice-noodle base is pretty cool.

So thank you, Laura, for your suggestion.  If I'm in Egypt some day, hopefully I can find a street vendor who will serve me some.

Next time: El Salvador