Koshari recipe: Cairo's street bowl of rice, lentils and pasta

This koshari recipe builds Cairo's best-known street dish the way the city's koshari shops do: rice and brown lentils cooked in one pot, pasta, chickpeas, a vinegar-sharpened tomato sauce and onions fried until dark. The technical key is the onion oil, which seasons every other component.

Koshari, also spelled kushari or koshary, is a pantry dish with no meat, no dairy and five separate textures. Its rice-and-lentil base is usually traced to Indian khichdi, which reached Egypt in the 19th century; pasta and tomato sauce came later, and the fried onions and garlic vinegar are the Egyptian signature. UNESCO inscribed koshary on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2025.

In Cairo the reference is Abou Tarek, which began as a street cart in 1950 and now fills a four-storey building downtown; it features in our guide to what to eat in Cairo. This koshari recipe is a house version for four, adapted from the method the cook Omar Allam published in Gulf News, with our own quantities. Expect four pans and about 75 minutes.

The oil left from frying the onions is the seasoning that ties the five parts together.

Ingredients

• 3 large onions (about 500 g), sliced into thin half-moons
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 150 ml neutral oil (sunflower or corn)
• 200 g brown lentils, rinsed
• 200 g medium-grain rice, rinsed until the water runs clear
• 150 g small pasta (ditalini or elbow macaroni)
• 1 tin chickpeas (400 g; 240 g drained)
• 7 garlic cloves
• 400 g tomato passata
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2½ tsp ground cumin
• 1½ tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp chilli flakes, plus extra to serve
• 6 tbsp white vinegar
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Fine salt and black pepper

Method

1. Toss the onions with the flour and a pinch of salt, then fry them in the oil over medium-high heat in two batches, 10 to 12 minutes each, until deep brown. The flour dries the surface so they crisp rather than stew. Drain on paper and keep the oil.
2. Simmer the lentils in 1 litre of unsalted water for 15 minutes, until tender outside but still firm in the centre. They need a head start because they take longer than rice. Drain, saving the cooking water.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of the onion oil in the same pan and toast the rice with 1 tsp cumin for 2 minutes, which keeps the grains separate. Add the lentils, 450 ml of liquid (lentil water topped up with tap water) and 1 tsp salt. Bring to the boil, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes, then rest off the heat, lid on, for 10 minutes.
4. For the sauce, warm 2 tbsp onion oil and cook 4 chopped garlic cloves for 30 seconds with 1 tsp coriander, the chilli flakes and the tomato paste. Add the passata and 150 ml water and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until it coats a spoon. Stir in 2 tbsp vinegar at the end, so the acidity stays sharp, and season.
5. For the daqqa, crush the 3 remaining garlic cloves with ½ tsp salt and warm them for 20 seconds in 1 tbsp onion oil without colouring. Tip into a bowl with 4 tbsp vinegar, 4 tbsp water, 1 tsp cumin, ½ tsp coriander and the lemon juice. Leave it 10 minutes: brief heat removes the raw bite of the garlic.
6. Boil the pasta in salted water for 1 minute less than the packet says, drain and toss with 1 tbsp onion oil so it does not stick.
7. Warm the drained chickpeas for 5 minutes in a little water with the remaining ½ tsp cumin.
8. Layer each bowl in this order: rice and lentils, pasta, tomato sauce, chickpeas, fried onions. Serve the daqqa and extra chilli at the table, so everyone sets their own acidity and heat.

Shatta, leftovers and what to drink

Cairo shops put a third bottle on the table, which this koshari recipe leaves optional: shatta, a chilli sauce. For a quick version, stir 1 tsp chilli flakes and 1 tbsp hot onion oil into 3 tbsp of the finished tomato sauce. Add daqqa first, then shatta; the vinegar is what lifts a bowl that is otherwise all starch.

Koshari is eaten with a spoon and without bread. A cold hibiscus infusion (karkade), common across Egypt, suits it because its acidity does the same job as the vinegar.

Frequently asked questions about this koshari recipe

Can I make koshari ahead? Yes. The sauce and daqqa keep four days in the fridge; the rice and lentils and the pasta keep two days in separate containers and reheat with a splash of water. Store the onions in a jar at room temperature and add them at the last moment, since steam softens them.

Is koshari vegan? As written, yes: it contains no animal products, provided the pasta is egg-free. Some home cooks fry in butter or ghee, but shops use oil.

Which lentils work best for koshari? Brown or green lentils, which hold their shape. Red split lentils collapse within 10 minutes and turn the rice to porridge; black beluga lentils work but need 5 minutes longer in the first simmer.