Koshari is a naturally vegan Egyptian street food made with rice, lentils, macaroni, chickpeas, tomato sauce, and crispy onions! If you’re searching for a hearty, cheap, easy, delicious meal, look no further! This Egyptian staple will blow your mind 🇪🇬
This past February, my boyfriend and I took an 8-day trip to Egypt to celebrate our birthdays. I have always had a huge fascination with Egyptian history and culture, and I was very excited to visit and find out if aliens actually built the pyramids. The trip went above and beyond all expectations, and I have so many stories to tell, but we are here to talk about food!
There no shortage of vegan food in Egypt! I had so many juicy dates, creamy hummus and tahini, amazing ful, and wonderful breads. But my favorite thing I ate was Koshari.
What is Koshari?
Where I’m from in Rochester NY we have something called a Garbage Plate. This plate starts with home fries, baked beans, and macaroni salad. Followed by a combination of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, red / white hots, sausages, etc. And finally a meat sauce is dumped on top. And usually people finish it off with ketchup, mustard, or hot sauce.
Anyway, Koshari reminds me of a healthier, vegan Egyptian Garbage Plate.
Koshari is made with rice, lentils, macaroni, chickpeas, tomato sauce, and crispy onions. In garbage plate fashion, each ingredient is added in layers on top of each other.
This Egyptian street food is so popular and well-loved because it is not only filling and delicious, but is also cheap!
How to make Koshari
Koshari is very simple to make, but does require some time to prep all your ingredients.
- Rice. I use basmati rice, but any medium-grain rice will work.
- Tomato sauce. Brown some onions and garlic. Then add spices, tomato sauce, and vinegar and simmer on low for a couple of minutes.
- Lentils. I use canned lentils to save time, but feel free to make these yourself.
- Chickpeas. I also use canned chickpeas.
- Macaroni. Choose a small macaroni, like elbow or ditalini.
- Crispy onions. I use crispy onions from the store. Make your own by coating onion slices in flour and pan-frying in oil over medium heat until they are crispy.
I recommend serving Koshari buffet style, with each ingredient in it’s own bowl so people can make their own plates 😊
Want more dinner ideas? Check out my Chickpea Burgers or Easy Falafel!
If you make this recipe, leave it a rating and a comment! You can also tag me @Daughter_of_Seitan on Instagram so I can see your lovely food creations. XOXO
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Koshari
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Mains
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Egyptian
Description
Koshari is a vegan Egyptian street food made with rice, lentils, macaroni, chickpeas, tomato sauce, and crispy onions! It is a hearty, cheap, and easy dinner that is also perfect for meal prep.
Ingredients
Koshari
- 1 15oz can chickpeas
- 1 12oz can lentils
- 1 cup dry basmati rice
- 1 cup dry small macaroni (elbow or ditalini)
- Crispy onions for serving
Tomato Sauce
- 1 15oz can tomato sauce
- 1 small white onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp chili flakes (optional + more for serving)
Instructions
- Make your rice. Add one cup of rice and two cups of water to a medium pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid, and let simmer 18-20 mins until rice is tender.
- Make your tomato sauce.
- In a medium saucepan, heat up some oil over medium high heat. Cook onions and garlic 3-5 minutes until they start to brown.
- Stir in cumin, coriander powder, chili flakes, and salt.
- Reduce heat to low and add tomato sauce and white vinegar. Cover with a lid, and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Taste your sauce, and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Make your macaroni. Cook your macaroni in a pot of salted water according to package instructions.
- Drain and rinse your lentils and chickpeas. To save time, I use canned lentils and chickpeas, but you can make your own from dry.
- Serve. Lay a bed of rice on your plate and top with lentils, macaroni, tomato sauce, chickpeas, then the crispy onions. Sprinkle some extra chili flakes for extra spice.
Keywords: Koshari, Kushari, Vegan Street Food, Egyptian Food, Vegan Egyptian Food, Lentils, Chickpeas
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