Koshari
Lentils and rice and macaroni, spiced tomato and crispy onion.
Maui's an app that plans a whole week of dinners like this one. See how it works ↓
The crispy onions are the dish - do not rush them. Set a timer for 18 min, then check every 90 seconds. You want deep mahogany, not gold. They keep crunchy at room temp 3 days in a jar, so make a big batch.
Ingredients
Everything below makes 6 servings.
- 1 cupbrown lentilsrinsed
- 1 cuplong-grain white ricerinsed
- 1 cupelbow macaroni
- 1 cancanned chickpeasdrained and rinsed
- 2 largeyellow onion (for crispy topping)thinly sliced into rings
- 1 mediumyellow onion (for sauce)finely diced
- 6garlic clovesminced (3 for sauce, 3 for shata)
- 28 ozcrushed tomatoes
- 2 tspground cumin
- 1 tspground coriander
- ¼ tspground cinnamon
- 1 tspred pepper flakefor shata sauce
- 3 tbspwhite vinegarfor shata sauce
- ½ cupneutral oil (for frying onions)
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 2 tspkosher salt
- ½ tspfreshly ground black pepper
In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.
Nutrition
Per serving, as written.
- 520calories
- 18gprotein
- 86gcarbs
- 12gfat
Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.
Instructions
Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.
- Rinse brown lentils until water runs clear.
- Rinse rice in a sieve until water runs nearly clear.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
- Thinly slice 2 large onions into rings for frying. Finely dice 1 medium onion for the sauce. Mince 6 garlic cloves (split in half).
Fry onions
Heat neutral oil in a skillet over medium. Add sliced onion rings and cook 18-22 min, stirring occasionally, until deeply mahogany brown and crispy. Watch the last 5 min - they go from golden to burnt fast. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined plate, sprinkle with salt. Reserve 2 tbsp of the onion oil.
20 min · hands onCook lentils
While onions fry: put rinsed lentils in a medium saucepan with 3 cups water and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook 18-20 min until tender but still holding shape. Drain any excess water.
19 min · hands offBuild tomato sauce
In a small saucepan, heat olive oil over medium. Add diced onion, cook 5 min until soft. Add 3 of the minced garlic cloves and cumin and coriander and cinnamon; cook 30 sec. Pour in crushed tomatoes, salt, and 2 tbsp of the reserved onion oil. Simmer 15 min until thickened.
20 min · hands offCook rice and pasta
In the large pot, bring 2 cups water and salt to a boil. Add rice, reduce to simmer, cover, and cook 15 min. Off heat, let steam 5 min. Meanwhile, boil macaroni in a separate pot of salted water per package directions until al dente; drain.
20 min · hands offMake shata
In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, the remaining 3 minced garlic cloves, red pepper flake, 2 tbsp water, and a pinch of salt. This is shata - fiery, sharp, the soul of koshari. Set aside.
2 min · hands onWarm chickpeas
Stir drained chickpeas into the tomato sauce; warm 2 min.
2 min · hands onAssemble
Layer in each bowl: rice to lentils to macaroni to ladle of tomato-chickpea sauce to big handful of crispy onions on top. Drizzle with shata to taste - start with 1 tsp per bowl, go heavier if you want fire.
3 min · hands onMake it yours
Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.
Use 2 cans chickpeas instead of cooking lentils. Saves about 15 minutes.
Dice cucumber and tomato and red onion, dress with lemon and olive oil. Adds about 5 minutes.
What keeps
Each component (rice, lentils, macaroni, tomato sauce, fried onion) holds 4-5 days separately. Assemble per bowl - koshari turns mushy if pre-mixed.
Crispy onions stay crisp in an airtight container at room temp 3 days.
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