Koshari Recipe: Egyptian comfort bowl of lentils, rice, chickpeas, with a special tomato sauce and savory crispy onions on top! SKIP TO RECIPE
Koshari is a fun word to say, isn’t it?
Koshari (also spelled, Kushari) is the national dish of my birthplace, Egypt. By far one of my favorite things to eat–EVER! No matter how far I’ve traveled, I will always crave a humble bowl of koshari as served in the streets of Egypt.
What is Koshari?
Koshri is another one of those genius solutions to using up pantry staples. It is a cousin to the Middle Eastern Mujadara. In a nutshell, it is a comforting bowl of simple pantry staples: spiced lentils and rice, combined with chickpeas and small pasta. All smothered in a tomato sauce that’s been spiked with vinegar (out-of-this-world tasty, by the way!) Then…wait for it…it’s topped with savory, crispy thin fried onion rings.
Although this koshari recipe takes some time to put together, each element is fairly simple to make.
It may not look like much, but this Egyptian comfort food has every bit a satisfying depth and texture to it. It’ll have you coming back for more!
What to Serve with Koshari?
At home, koshari is served family-style with additional tomato sauce and crispy onion rings to pass! To complete the meal, I typically add a side of this quick 3- ingredient Mediterranean salad dressed simply in olive oil and lemon juice.
Koshari Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hours 22 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
Koshari is a traditional Egyptian staple, mixing chick peas, pasta, fried onions, and zesty tomato sauce, served on top a bed of rice and brown lentils! Flavor packed and not to mention healthy!
Ingredients
For the Crispy Onion Topping
- 1 large onion, sliced into thin rings
- Salt
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cooking oil
For Tomato Sauce
- Cooking oil
- 1 small onion, grated
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 –1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 can 28-oz tomato sauce
- Salt and pepper
- 1–2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
For Koshari
- 1 1/2 cup brown lentils, picked over and well-rinsed
- 1 1/2 cup medium-grain rice, rinsed, soaked in water for 15 minutes, drained
- 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 2 cups elbow pasta
- Cooking oil
- Water
- 1 15-oz can chickpeas, rinsed, drained and warmed
Instructions
Make the crispy onion topping.
- Sprinkle the onion rings with salt, then toss them in the flour to coat. Shake off excess flour.
- In a large skillet, heat the cooking oil over medium-high heat, cook the onion rings, stirring often, until they turn a nice caramelized brown. Onions must be crispy, but not burned (15-20 minutes).
Make the Tomato Sauce.
- In a saucepan, heat 1 tbsp cooking oil. Add the grated onion, cook on medium-high until the onion turns a translucent gold (do not brown). Now add the garlic, coriander, and red pepper flakes, if using, and saute briefly until fragrant (30-45 seconds more).
- Stir in tomato sauce and pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce thickens (15 minutes or so).
- Stir in the distilled white vinegar, and turn the heat to low. Cover and keep warm until ready to serve.
Make the Koshari
- Cook the lentils. Bring lentils and 4 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot or saucepan over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and cook until lentils are just tender (15-17 minutes). Drain from water and season with a little salt. (Note: when the lentils are ready, they should not be fully cooked. They should be only par-cooked and still have a bite to them as they need to finish cooking with the rice).
- Now, for the rice. Drain the rice from its soaking water. Combine the par-cooked lentils and the rice in the saucepan over medium-high heat with 1 tbsp cooking oil, salt, pepper, and coriander. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring regularly. Add warm water to cover the rice and lentil mixture by about 1 1/2 inches (you’ll probably use about 3 cups of water here). Bring to a boil; the water should reduce a bit. Now cover and cook until all the liquid has been absorbed and both the rice and lentils are well cooked through (about 20 minutes). Keep covered and undisturbed for 5 minutes or so.
- Now make the pasta. While the rice and lentils are cooking, make the pasta according to package instructions by adding the elbow pasta to boiling water with a dash of salt and a little oil. Cook until the pasta is al dente. Drain.
- Cover the chickpeas and warm in the microwave briefly before serving.
Put it All Together!
- To serve, fluff the rice and lentils with a fork and transfer to a serving platter. Top with the elbow pasta and 1/2 of the tomato sauce, then the chickpeas, and finally 1/2 of the crispy onions for garnish. Serve, passing the remaining sauce and crispy onions separately.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hours 7 minutes
- Category: Vegetarian
- Cuisine: Egyptian
Nutrition
- Calories: 0
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 0 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 0 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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I want to make this dish for an Egyptian neighbor but am having a hard time finding brown lentils. I even went to an international grocery store but only found green and red lentils (the red lentils looked brown though). What color are the brown lentils on the inside? Can I substitute with green lentils or is the flavor too different? Thanks!
Hi, Vanessa! Yes, green could work, but either black or brown lentils are better for koshari.
Loved the recipe! but how many servings does it make?
Hello! This recipe makes 4-6 servings.
What kind of rice , never heard of multi-grain rice
Hi, Cheri. The recipe calls for a medium grain rice, and I can usually find that product at my local grocery store. If you cannot find it, you could go with long-grained rice.
I’d still alter it because I hate onions and vinegar (the smell of vinegar iimmediately induces a gag reflex for me, so vinegar is a no-no at my home. Fortunately, I live alone), but I just love all the other ingredients: almost all legumes, rice, pasta, tomatoes… heck, I eat tomatoes even though I know I’m allergic to them. (I only avoid things which can give me a really dangerous reaction, because if I were to elliminate ALL allergens… I probably couldn’t even eat food, but protein and carbohydrate solutions only.)
However, what I really wanted to comment about: don’t assume that everyone has a microwave oven. I don’t. I have a small kitchen and if I had a microwave oven, I would have much less place for teas, and I’m absolutely crazy about trying all possible teas.
Yes. Exactly. I took part of the rice and lentils mushy and mixed with rice cooked I had from last day :=) my only solution to save the meal.
Followed the recipe EXACTLY (I do this the first time cause it’s unfair to negatively rate a recipe that one modifies). The rice and lentils got way mushy. Next time I will cook them separately and mix before assembling.
Loved it so tasty! My husband from Egypt said it tasted exactly like home. Very pleased and it was easy to follow. Thanks for this gem of a recipe!
That’s great to hear! Thanks, Sara!
I love this recioe wanted to save all the time…
Thank you so much!!
Can this be frozen in servings?
Hi, Pat! I have not personally tried freezing this one, but I think it should work. I would not freeze the servings with the crispy, though. Instead, add that after reheating.
An ideal meal, so healthy but SO delicious! I’ve had Koshari take out before, but first time making it at home. I absolutely loved it, will be a regular meal here on out. Leftovers were great too, just crisped up the onions for each serving individually. Great for anybody, but awesome that it’s vegan.
So glad you enjoyed the Koshari, Emma!
Also, does it matter if they’re yellow or red onions?
We use yellow onions often but red onions will work as well
I failed! Tremendously!
My rice never got dry and fluffy. It was sort of gloopy. But that was 100% my fault, and the eaters I was feeding STILL went back for seconds. The seasonings are amazing, and that tomato sauce is unbelievable.
It might not be the right way, but next time, I’m going to cook all of the carbs separately and fluff them together, and I’m going to do the onions last so they’re still crisp. The flavors in this are amazingly wonderful – thank you Suzy!
Hmmmmm… I’m sorry about that. Wonder what happened. So glad everyone still enjoyed the recipe.
Hi Suzy
I live in Cairo and I love Koushary. We do not have it in America where I am from..I have always wanted to try cooking it my self. I just happen to come across your recipe and I am going to try it really soon. I just have one question. The spicy sauce they give you in the packets with the koushary. Do you know the ingredients for how they make this. If so can you post it. I love putting this on top of my koushary.
Thanks so much
Ameerah
Welcome, Ameerah! I’m glad you get to make your own Koshari now! I don’t have the recipe for that extra topping you’ve mentioned, but I know there is a bit of vinegar, garlic, and chili pepper.
Hi .. can you we use fresh tomatoes instead on tomato sauce ?
You could, if you chopped them up real finely. Essentially, you need to make a sauce, so you’ll end up using quite a few tomatoes
This is such a great recipe!! My first time trying Koshari and will definitely be making it again. Thank you so much!!!
This is delicious!! We are studying countries and this one caught my attention. The flavors all together are worth the effort!!
So glad, Elisabeth!
Hi Suzy,
Thanks for the awesome recipe. I thought it would taste like a home experiment, but it actually tasted much like what I get from Egyptian restaurants. The sauce was esp. amazing, thank you again. 🙂
God bless,
Sincerely,
That’s wonderful! So glad you enjoyed it!