Egyptian cuisine is distinguished by the wide variety of ingredients used to create each dish’s tasty taste. Take Koshary, for example. Koshary, Egypt’s national dish, is the idol of street foods. Everyone loves it. Everyone eats this. It’s affordable and available everywhere.
The variety of ingredients in the recipe is the key to Koshary’s popularity.
Koshary is a dish layered from the bottom with Rice, brown lentils, and chickpeas. The tomato sauce then covers it all. Koshary is served with a spicy sauce, a vinegar tomato sauce, and mashed potatoes. The quantity and addition of these sauces are up to the individual. Koshary is best eaten with a bowl of Vanilla Rice Pudding.
This is true for many other Egyptian dishes. The ingredients, whether the main ones like pasta and Rice or the secondary ones such as herbs, spices, and sauces, add a unique flavor and nutritional value to the dish.
Rice is the most essential ingredient. It is sometimes served separately from the main dish. Sometimes it is the main dish. It is therefore cooked in many different ways, with ingredients that add a unique taste.
The large production of Rice in Egypt is responsible for its popularity. Egypt is Africa’s number one rice producer, with an annual output of over six million tons.
Rice, along with tourism and the Suez Canal, is one of Egypt’s most important export crops. Rice is a top-quality, nutritious, and tasty food that’s affordable.
The basmati rice, famous in West Asian countries like Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and Iran, is entirely different.
Egyptian Rice is a medium or short grain. It is more starch-rich than basmati, which makes it cook softer and stickier. Egyptian Rice can be used in sweet and savory dishes, giving it an advantage over the long, dry basmati.
The fact that the various Egyptian rice dishes are closely associated with specific main courses is interesting. A rice dish cannot replace another. This is an inherently forbidden act. Every word is perfect the way it is.
We bring you seven ways to cook Rice in Egyptian cuisine. We hope you enjoy them.
Khalta Rice
This dish is a staple in all buffets and events. Khalta rice is a staple for any occasion, whether a wedding or engagement party, Ramadan Iftar, or a family meal.
This dish could be confusing. This dish is classified as savory, but actually, it tastes sweet. It is a main dish, but it is often served with other beef dishes, as it is only performed on special occasions when various Egyptian dishes are served.
It is easy to make Khalta rice, but you should consider the ingredients used and how they’re cooked. Even small changes can lead to a completely different outcome.
Ingredients
- Three cups of Egyptian Rice
- Cut into small cubes 1/2 kg of beef liver
- Sugar 3 Tablespoons
- Three teaspoons of Egyptian Black Honey
- One large chopped onion
- Three minced cloves of garlic
- If you don’t have any stock, use one cup of water and one cube of chicken broth.
- Cardamom 2 cloves
- Lauro 2 leaves
- Piper cubeba two cloves
- Half a teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup peeled almonds
- 1/4 cup peanuts, pecans, or walnuts
- Allspice, 1/4 teaspoon
- Ghee, four tablespoons
- Four tablespoons of vegetable oils
- Black pepper and salt
Recipe
Add water to the bowl until it’s half-full. You can clean the Rice with your hands. Pour the water off and repeat this process 5 or 6 times until all the starch has been drained from the Rice and the water is clean. Add more water to the Rice and let it soak for 15-30 minutes. Drain the water thoroughly after soaking the Rice.
Add one tablespoon of ghee and the almonds or other nuts to a large saucepan. Stir for two minutes until they are roasted, then add the raisins. Stir them for another minute, then remove them to a separate bowl. For now, leave them aside.
Combine one tablespoon of oil with the minced onions in the same pan. Stir-fry the onions until their color starts to change. Add the cardamom, and Lauro leaves, followed by the piper cubeba. The flavor is enhanced by adding them whole, without crushing the leaves or cloves. Stir until the onions turn light brown, then turn off the heat.
Add one tablespoon of oil and one tablespoon of ghee to a large pot on medium heat. Toss the Rice once the ghee has melted. Stir the Rice until it turns light brown, about five minutes. Next, add a minced garlic clove with half a tablespoon of black pepper and half a spoonful of salt.
Continue stirring until the color of the Rice becomes darker.
The Rice has a sweet caramel flavor that makes this recipe so unique. We will mix the sugar and black honey with the Rice.
It’s time to start cooking the Rice. On high heat, add the hot chicken or lamb stock to the Rice and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the Rice for 20 minutes.
Add two tablespoons of oil to the pan. Add the liver cubes when the oil is hot. Stir-fry them, then add a minced garlic clove, black pepper, and allspice. Stir the liver cubes for about five minutes or until they are cooked.
After the Rice has been cooked, could you remove it from the heat? Add half of the roasted almonds that you used at the beginning. Mix them with the Rice.
In the last step, move the Rice onto a serving plate and top it with the remaining nuts and liver cubes.
Serve hot.
Vermicelli Rice
Rice with vermicelli is a popular rice dish in Egyptian homes, eaten almost daily. Vermicelli is rich in carbohydrates and is a pasta type produced almost exclusively in Egypt. It’s like extremely thin spaghetti but broken. It is not pasta.
Vermicelli rice is served with most Egyptian vegetable stews. This includes Egyptian okra, pea/carrot, white bean, green bean, and spinach stews, all with an onion tomato base. This rice dish is served along with the Mulukhiyah soup.
How to make it?
Ingredients
- 2 cups of Egyptian Rice
- 1/2 lattice pasta
- Five tablespoons of vegetable oil
- Butter 1 tablespoon
- Salt – 1 Tablespoon
- If you don’t have any stock, use water and a cube of chicken broth.
Recipe
Before using the Rice, clean it multiple times and soak it in water for at least 30 minutes. Drain the water and set the Rice aside.
Stir the butter and oil in a medium heat pot until it melts. Add the lattice spaghetti. Stir it frequently with a spatula for two minutes or until the lattice pasta breaks and turn golden brown.
Next, add the Rice to the pot. Mix the Rice and brown lattice on medium heat until evenly distributed. Pour in 2 1/2 cups of chicken stock. If you don’t have this, add the same amount of water and a chicken broth cube. Add the salt.
Bring the Rice to a rolling boil and stir it. Allow it to boil for two minutes until the stock has been absorbed. After giving the Rice one last stir, turn down the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Let it cook for about 20 minutes. It would help if you did not uncover the Rice now, as you could break the ice and turn it into mush.
The Rice will be ready after about 20 minutes. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes after turning off the heat. Vermicelli rice is not eaten alone but with Mulukhiyah Soup or vegetable stews.
Vermicelli rice is used as a component in Koshary, along with pasta. However, the Rice must be mixed with brown lentils in this case.
Sayyadia Rice
Sayyadia rice is the Egyptian term for brown Rice. This is an entirely different way of cooking Rice from the previous two dishes. Sayyadia Rice goes well with fish and other seafood. Sayyadia rice is often eaten with fried Nile fish, Mediterranean tilapia, and Salata Baladi (Egyptian salad).
Brown Rice is a simple recipe to prepare, and it is delicious, distinctive, and suitable for seafood. So let’s hop into it.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of Egyptian Rice
- Two cups of water
- One large chopped onion
- Four tablespoons of vegetable oils
- Salt 2 teaspoons
- One teaspoon of tomato paste
Recipe
Add the Rice, as usual, to a large dish and wash it with water. It is important to stir it repeatedly until the starch has been drained. After 30 minutes or an hour, you can soak the Rice for up to one hour. Pour the water over the Rice and leave it aside.
Heat the oil over medium-high in a large pot and add the onion mince. Stirring frequently is necessary for about five minutes until the onions are brown. Add the tomato paste. This will give the Rice a savory taste.
Continue stirring the onions until they turn dark brown. You should not worry if the onions look burnt. The Rice gets its beautiful brown color from this dark color. The Rice will become lighter when it is cooked. Make sure that the onions do not burn.
Add the Rice now to the onions. Mix it with the onions using a spatula. It will start to turn from white to a light brown color. Continue stirring until all the onions and rice grains are evenly combined. Pour the hot water in with the salt. Stir.
Bring the Rice to a rolling boil, then leave it alone for one minute. Lower the heat, cover the pot, and allow the Rice to cook for 25 min. It would help if you did not uncover the Rice during cooking, as it will turn pulpy.