Koshari
Egypt's beloved street food, layering rice, lentils, and pasta under a spiced tomato sauce and crispy fried onions, with a garlic-vinegar sauce and chili hot sauce (shatta) added to taste. In December 2025, koshari became the first Egyptian dish inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognized specifically for its role in social cohesion, since it's eaten across every class and region of the country, a real and recent honor worth stating precisely rather than as a vague, undated claim.
Vegan
⚠ Contains: Gluten. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
How this varies: Some vendors stir a little tamarind into the tomato sauce for extra tang, and Alexandria-style koshari sometimes reduces or omits chickpeas in favor of more lentils.
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 1 cup small pasta (elbow, ditalini, or a macaroni/vermicelli mix)
- 1 cup chickpeas, cooked
- 2 large onions, thinly sliced, tossed lightly in 2-3 tbsp flour
- Oil, for frying onions and cooking
- 3 cloves garlic, minced (tomato sauce)
- 400g canned tomatoes, or passata (tomato sauce)
- 1 tsp cumin (tomato sauce)
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander, optional (tomato sauce)
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes or cayenne (tomato sauce)
- Salt and pepper, to taste (tomato sauce)
- 4-6 cloves garlic, crushed (garlic-vinegar sauce)
- 1/3 cup white vinegar (garlic-vinegar sauce)
- 1/3 cup water (garlic-vinegar sauce)
- 1 tsp cumin (garlic-vinegar sauce)
- Pinch of cayenne (garlic-vinegar sauce)
- Salt, to taste (garlic-vinegar sauce)
- Shatta or other chili hot sauce, to serve (optional)
Steps
- Cook lentils in salted water until just tender, about 20 minutes; drain.
- Cook rice separately until fluffy. Cook pasta separately until al dente; drain.
- Toss the sliced onions lightly in flour, then shallow or deep fry in batches until deep golden brown and crisp; drain on paper towel - the flour coating is what makes them shatter-crisp rather than just softly fried.
- For the tomato sauce: saute garlic briefly in oil, add tomatoes, cumin, coriander, and chili flakes; simmer 15-20 minutes until thickened. Cumin should be the dominant spice note.
- For the garlic-vinegar sauce: whisk crushed garlic, vinegar, water, cumin, cayenne, and salt together; let sit 10 minutes to mellow. Keep separate from the tomato sauce.
- To assemble, layer rice, lentils, and pasta in a bowl, scatter chickpeas over, and top with crispy onions.
- Serve with the tomato sauce spooned over, and the garlic-vinegar sauce and shatta offered on the side so each diner adjusts to taste.