Reinventing Koshari.

Koshari: Rice, Lentils, Macaroni, fried onions and tomato sauce. Doesn't sound too glamorous, does it?

How about:

Black Lentil Risotto with Caramelised onions on a bed of fresh pasta Al-dente finished with a tomato-garlic sauce. [Description is copyrighted, 2007 - Don't snatch.]

"What's the most important element of cooking?"
"Ingredients"
- Chef!

So the transformation begins with choosing a high quality grain rice and making fresh pasta.

I've got to have something to compare it with, right? As far as I know, the only purveyor of fine traditional egyptian (not lebanese) cuisine is Abu-El Sid. They've got Koshari, so I'm going to try theirs. If anyone can recommend another "fine egyptian food" restaurant, leave me a comment with their fone number and address.

"This is a Chronicling..."

I'm sick of deep fried crap. I want food that excites me - visually, gustatorily and emotionally. Eating is more than just fuel for your body - there's a whole sensory system we neglect. It's called Taste. To quote Gordon Ramsay, our palates "are like cow's backsides." So I've been learning to appreciate tastes, to think about what goes well with what; and when to hold back and realise that 3 or 4 flavors are enough on a dish.

My dilemma here in cairo is that alot of the restaurants here are pretentious and serve absolute shite food - but charge me an arm and a leg for it. I can cook better.

And I have.

So the task I've set myself is as follows: to design a simple menu. 3 starters, 3 mains, 3 puddings. I've also added a curveball: to use egyptian ingredients in new and novel ways. So far, this has led to recent experiments with istambulli cheese and "basturma". I'm glad to say they have been a success; with only minor tweaking needed to get the dishes upto a consistently excellent standard.

We've got some great fresh ingredients here; from the produce down to the spices. It took a bit of doing, but I managed to decipher alot of the arabic names [Guzt el teeb is nutmeg!].

So now the plan is to chronicle my own cooking experiences and ideas, and also get out there and see what Cairo has to offer a 27-year old Male in search of the perfect 3 course meal. I'm not going to try and post recipes here - you can goto AllRecipes for those - I'm just gonna talk food. Comment or don't; read or don't - this site is more for me than it is for you - kind of like my living room :D