Let is be said that the vast majority of Egyptians have truly wonderful sense of humor. The proof, if you doubt, can be found in the website El Koshary.
The actual dish Koshary is the delicious carbohydrate filled street food made out two types of pasta, brown lentils, rice, chickpeas, fried onions, tomato sauce, garlic sauce, and a really hot sauce. Koshary is incredibly cheap and comes in massive servings.
I once got in a friendly argument about the root of the name Koshary. My friend held that it was derived from the Jewish/Hebrew tradition/word "Kosher." I claimed it was derived from the Arabic word meaning "random" or something similar to "grab bag." Like most people do these days we Googled it and my claim had the greater number of Google hits. If we had been betting money I would have walked away richer. We were not betting money and no one in Egypt I have met can give me a 100 percent translation. The recipe is said to have been created by ancient followers of the Coptic faith (Egyptian Orthodox Christians) to eat during their fasts, when they do not eat dairy, meat, or animal products.I don't think Koshary is Kosher. Not many Rabbi's on the street corners selling food in Cairo.
The actual food is not the point, but knowing Koshary means roughly "a jumble" and that it is dirt cheap street food gives the website's title a little more depth. Read and laugh.
1 comment:
so, today I decided to click on your blog from fb to find Koshari on the news!!!
I've heard several times of it being kosahr & started spreading it around to the dislike of my friends, but did you know that the famous spanish "Paella" is basically derived from Arabic word "Ba-eyah" which means "remains"... so it's basically a dish containing all the reamins of the food left over!!! in other words, the spanish koshari!!! :)
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