Egyptian Stuffed Grape Leaves – Mahshi Waraq Enab (Dolma)

Each country in the middle east claims that their mahshi is the best! As an Egyptian, I agree, they are ALL so good! The idea is the same but the trick is in the spices used. So I love the Turkish, Palestinian, the Lebanese, the Jordanian, the Libyan and all different forms and shapes of…

Egyptian Fattah: Meat, rice, crispy bread and garlicy tomato sauce

Egyptian Fattah is a classic dish from the beginning of time. It is very ancient and many arabic movies highlight this dish in big feasts, weddings and any other big events that occur in villages and old Egypt. It has it all in one dish: meat, rice, bread and tomatoes. Egyptian dish is also known to…

Egyptian rice with nuts and raisins: Ruz bil khalta

Ruz bilkhalta is a very popular middle eastern side dish. Each country has its own spices and way of making it. Some use caramelized sugar as the basis of the rice, some brown the rice itself in butter until golden color and some do both. There are some common factors across all the variations of different…

Some kind of rice recipe: Very nice mistake?!

Sometimes, you plan to cook a specific dish for lunch or dinner but something happens to change the plan! Missing ingredient or a wrong step that could change the dish to better or worse. This rice was one of the good mistakes I made. I was craving “maqluba” that is a middle eastern rice dish with layers of beef, eggplants,…

Father in law’s recipe of the Egyptian Calrose Rice…

As you might know by now, I love cooking, trying recipes and making new ones. I think I can follow most of the recipes easily, thank God! However, there is one dish I always used to struggle with, it sounds like an easy dish but it always ends up either overcooked or undercooked, that is the Egyptian…

Rice with peas and carrots

The best thing about this rice dish is that it is a main dish by itself. It makes it easy specially for kids to make sure that they eat some vegetables along with the rice. I made this dish for my husband who is on diet and it has been great for him! He is…

Egyptian rice pudding with cinnamon and raisins…Just right!

  Rice pudding is a common desert in many countries, and of course each country has its own twist. I love the indian version of the rice pudding but it is quite different from the Egyptian one. The Egyptian rice pudding is thicker (hence heavier and fattier) and it does not have cardamom. Also, the Egyptian…

Egyptian seafood rice

In Egypt, there is a special rice that goes with seafood, it cannot be regular white or basmati rice. It has to have special flavors like onions, garlic and cumin. I have never seen anyone in Egypt eat seafood with white rice, this is how serious it is to eat the right rice. It has…

The national dish of Egypt: Koshari

One could imagine that a national dish of a middle eastern country like Egypt would include some kind of meat like lamb, beef or chicken. However, the Egyptian national dish is a vegetarian dish, it is called Koshari. Koshari is loved by all Egyptians and affordable by everyone. It is basically rice and lentils with…