The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

To all Dish of the Week and Cairo360 readers, hello. We disappeared last week for multiple reasons, mainly for our 12th anniversary, and we had a great time! In case you missed it, which you did because we skipped last week’s dish, the mood was mezze. Mezze is a dish that is a selection of mini appetisers served together.

We picked the dish mainly for the overall fleeting tone that dominated the mood of last week. Everything was frenzied and hectic; we didn’t spend an hour doing the same thing. We had to either switch between tasks or multitask. Just like mezze, it was like having a mouthful of little moments. 

Now that you’re caught up, this week’s mood is koshari, one of Egypt’s favourite local dishes of all time. Let’s break it down. Koshari is made up of carbs, generally white rice and whatever type of pasta, usually spaghetti noodles. It also has lentils, fried onions, chickpeas and drizzled or drenched, depending on how you like it, with tomato sauce, chilli sauce, and dukkah or garlic sauce. 

Koshari is a very eventful dish, just like the mood of this week. It’s the week right before Ramadan, when many Egyptians scurry to get the needed groceries and decorations to prepare for the month ahead. It is also one of the meals you should steer clear of if you want to have a successful day of fasting. It’s a hearty and heavy dish that can’t be eaten on an empty stomach and definitely never for Suhoor, unless you like a good challenge. 

We also chose koshari as a way of saying goodbye to both it and the last week before Ramadan. As the last week of the month, when most of us have splurged our entire salaries on mostly unnecessary items, koshari was there to save and nurture us. 

This was our mood of the week. Tell us about yours!