None of the individual elements here are hard – the hard part is getting them all done without running out of dishes!<\/p>\n
So, let’s get the rice and chick peas going on the counter.<\/p>\n
And the lentils, fried vermicelli, and boiled ditalini pasta going on the stove.<\/p>\n If we’ve fried spaghetti before, I don’t remember it. However, the end product turned out with the beautiful range of colors from light to dark that I remember from noodles served at Lebanese restaurants I’ve been to.<\/p>\n Only three more pots to go!\u00a0 There’s two different sauces – a tomato and vinegar sauce, (not pictured) and a cumin garlic sauce.<\/p>\n And if the phrase “cumin garlic sauce” doesn’t make you prick up your ears, then it should.\u00a0 We’ve mostly encountered cumin incorporated into dishes as a whole, rather than condiments, but it really works.<\/p>\n One last thing to go – our old nemesis, deep frying.<\/p>\n Experienced deep fryers will know that this is way too many onions for this much oil.\u00a0 (Or alternately too little oil for this many onions)\u00a0 So they didn’t actually get all that crisp.\u00a0 But we were too hungry to fry in small batches, and too out of oil to put any more in.<\/p>\n That accomplished, it’s time to gaze at our table of stuff, and begin the final assembly.<\/p>\n Egypt is majority Muslim, so the beer isn’t terribly authentic, but that’s OK, we didn’t pour it into the dish.<\/p>\n What we DID do, is pack our various element into bowls and then invert them.\u00a0 According to the photos with the recipe, you should get a lovely, layered dome of rice and pasta.<\/p>\n Nailed it.<\/p>\n Joking aside, a healthy splash of the two sauces, and this was genuinely delicious.\u00a0 The lentils, in particular, had a fantastic flavor, even with relatively humble seasoning.<\/p>\n So what’s for dessert?\u00a0 Ali’s Mom, that’s what.<\/p>\n No seriously, the dish is called Om Ali, or “Ali’s Mother”.\u00a0 The legend behind the name dates to the 12th century Ayyubid dynasty, or, you know, the day before yesterday on the scale of Egypt’s ludicrously long past.\u00a0 The legend says after a caliph died, his second wife had his first wife, (Om Ali) murdered, and then commissioned a fantastic dessert to celebrate the occasion of the murder.\u00a0 Neat, huh? Yeesh.<\/p>\n At any rate, the dessert is basically a bread pudding.\u00a0 You puff up some puff pastry, then pour milk and walnuts over it and let it soak for a bit.<\/p>\n Once it’s soaked in, you top it with whipped cream, stick it under the broiler, and then DO NOT TRUST the cooking time in the recipe, or else you get this.<\/p>\n Fortunately, it was equivalent to burned marshmallow – you pick the black bits off, and the rest is sweet and gooey and delicious:<\/p>\n You know I HAVE to say it, right?\u00a0 There is literally no way I’m NOT going to say it.<\/p>\n Ali’s mom has got it going on.<\/p>\n Sorry.<\/p>\n Well – Egypt was tasty, and as our second vegan main dish, something to remember for future guests!\u00a0 Next week, the first cuisine for a bit where we’ve been to the restaurants, and know exactly what we’re making – El Salvador!<\/p>\n Recipes: This week we visit one of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world – Egypt.\u00a0 But what is Egyptian food like?\u00a0 Turns out that it’s got a lot in common with other Mediterranean cuisines, like that of more familiar Lebanon.\u00a0 … Continue reading ![\"Rice](\"https:\/\/fnerk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/20210305_181420.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nKoshari<\/a>
\nOm Ali<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"