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Kushari – because carbs are good too

Kushari

Special times we are living in folks…but you know how it is and I’m sure you don’t want to hear me moaning about intolerance, ignorance, greed, and injustice. 13 days until the election and I’ve voted, have you?

This morning’s car conversation consisted of a debate regarding who would reign supreme in a battle royale involving a giant squid, a communist whale, and Woody Allen. The consensus was that Mr. Allen would form an alliance with the communist whale and soundly defeat the giant squid. This conversation brought to you by Alex and Dexter Balchen…they approved this message.

I watched Anthony Bourdain in Egypt and it seemed pretty clear that he didn’t not enjoy Egypt. I did enjoy the Kushari joint and I thought it was a wild take on a Cleveland-style chili. It’s been a carb fest around here this week because when you need warmth and comfort you can always get satisfaction from a steaming bowl of macaroni and cheese, or kushari.

Kushari

Kushari is basamati rice and brown lentils, pasta, chickpeas, a tomato sauce, and fried onions. It sounds strange, looks even stranger, but tastes really good. This is a dish that could have saved me from bowls of ramen noodles while in college. It’s simple to make, requires very little cooking skill, has great flavor, and an awesome nutritional profile. The cumin and garlic in the sauce makes it spicy but not too spicy and I recommend a stiff dose of either sriracha sauce or tabasco on top…but that’s just me.

Kushari
(printer-friendly recipe)

1 cup basmati rice, rinsed and steamed
1 cup brown lentils, rinsed and cooked until tender
1 cup pasta, cooked and rinsed
1 can chickpeas
1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
4 onions, peeled and sliced
canola oil
salt

Heat a heavy skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Once it’s hot add 2 tablespoons canola oil and dump the sliced onions into the pan. Lightly salt the onions and allow them to brown before stirring. You want the onions to be a sweet, almost crunchy brown fried onion when they’re done.

Combine the steamed rice and the cooked lentils in a large bowl. Stir and fluff unti the lentils are evenly distributed.

Heat the chickpeas either in the microwave or in a small saucepan on a burner.

Throw the garlic cloves, tomatoes, and cumin into a blender and process until smooth. Transfer to a sauce pan and cook over medium heat until heated through.

Note, to cook the lentils put them in a pan with water covering them and bring them to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer or a low boil. Check often to make sure there is enough water in the pan. They’re done when they are tender to the bite.

Once the pasta is cooked, drained, and rinsed you can assemble a bowl of kashari. It’s a big scoop of the rice and lentil mix, a small scoop of pasta, a smaller scoop of chickpeas, a dose of sauce, and a pile of fried onions. That’s it. Make it once, love it forever.

October 22, 2008 | Filed Under beans, food, pasta, pizza, noodles, spicy, vegetable 

comments

13 Responses to “Kushari – because carbs are good too”

  1. Kalyn on October 22nd, 2008

    Sounds so interesting! I’ve never heard of this before.

  2. Jodi aka soNOTcool on October 22nd, 2008

    This looks absolutely delicious and totally works with my vegan-ness. ;) I’m bookmarking this page and making this dish in the future. Thank you!

  3. Erin @ The Skinny Gourmet on October 23rd, 2008

    This somehow reminds me of a ghanaian dish, although on the ingredients perhaps not all that similar. the ghanaian dish is like dirty rice and beans (pigeon peas or black eyed peas), topped with gari (ground cassava) and spaghetti noodles and a spicy tomato/onion mixture.

    They also serve it with shito (SHEE-tow), which is a paste of deeply fried peppers and dried shrimp and whatnot.

  4. Carla on October 23rd, 2008

    Looks yummy! Where did you find the cool circular pasta?

  5. MadLisa on October 23rd, 2008

    Yeah, that was an interesting episode…but this looks great.
    Even though it’s hardly the same, this made me think of a soup I grew up eating, pasta e ceci, pasta and chickpeas, which also has onion, garlic and tomato in it. And speaking of college, a funny story. My Midwestern roommates would receive care packages that included chocolate chip cookies, brownies, etc. At one point, 2 of my mother’s sisters sent me a care package. This was over 20 years ago and these Italian New Yorkers figured Madison might just as well be the moon. In the package; cans of tuna in olive oil, cans of chickpeas, whole heads of garlic!! And plenty of homemade pizzelle for my sugar fix….

  6. holler on October 23rd, 2008

    That just sounds so good, I will have to try it! Your photos are very appetising :)

  7. Foodeater on October 23rd, 2008

    Oh yum, your Kushari looks so carbtastically delicious! After the Anthony Bourdain episode I wrote about it in my blog (here) because it struck me as funny that he was actually enjoying something vegetarian without making a big deal about it. I asked for some vegan recipes for Kushari and didn’t get much of a response… now that I’ve found your lovely version I don’t think I need to look any further. I love that I can make this with basically everything that’s already in the kitchen cupboard :)

  8. SallyHP on October 24th, 2008

    I have been reading your site for some time, and really like it. Thanks for so many diverse ideas and recipes!

  9. Bob LaGatta on October 25th, 2008

    I don’t know on how I stumbled upon this cooking blog., All I know is that I’d better check out the archives for a good read. Ha-ha! Just droppin’ to say hi!
    Oh. You might want to check this out: http://www.technocooks.com for uhm…a different “menu.”

  10. Jesse on October 25th, 2008

    I LOVE kushari… one of my favorite all time meals. I was so thrilled to see Bourdain eat it in Egypt too. Nice to see you sharing it here!

  11. Alex Balchen on October 25th, 2008

    Woody Allen and The Communist Whales Rule All!

  12. Abi on October 28th, 2008

    This is an Egyptian dish. It’s commonly popular among poor families for economical reasons. Still good!:).

  13. Peter F. on July 9th, 2009

    There is a variation, which traditional in certain areas of Egypt where the lentils are cooked together with the rice, which has a dirty rice and beans look.. Also adding crushed red pepper to the sauce is really good.

    Though the recipe you posted is not quite the same as is traditional from where my family is from in Egypt.

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