Eat like an Egyptian: the ultimate home-made koshari

I have fond memories of koshari from my trip to Egypt last year. Some describe it as Egypt's national dish. It's often sold from dedicated koshari restaurants, although it's a popular street food too.

I initially was uncertain about trying it at home. Even in Egypt it's something that people buy rather than make themselves. There are quite a few ingredients to prepare separately, it seems dangerously close to hard work. But then I found myself with some leftover cooked lentils (I often cook a big batch of lentils so that I have some for other dishes) and some leftover pasta from a different meal. Suddenly koshari preparation almost seemed simple.

If you fancy making this completely from scratch, then good for you. But you might want to use tinned lentils, or plan ahead so that you "accidentally" end up with leftovers. Traditional koshari has some vermicelli in with the rice, but given that we're adding pasta anyway, I think we can make life slightly easier by skipping the vermicelli - the dish is still an out-and-out carb-fest (in the best possible way) anyway.

And if buying someone else's version seems a lot easier, there are a few places in London where you can buy it, including the Real Food market on the South Bank, and Koshari Street. I'd be interested to know if there are other British koshari destinations outside of the capital.

I know that some people might take issue with my claim that this is the 'ultimate' koshari. Well it tasted pretty damn good to me.

Ingredients

200g cooked lentils (tinned if necessary, although if you cook dried lentils yourself with an added bay leaf, they will have a better texture and flavour)
200g cooked rice
200g cooked pasta (macaroni is traditionally used, or short lengths of spaghetti or a mixture of both)
1 tin chick peas, drained
1 tin chopped tomatoes
3 onions
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp whole cumin, crushed in a pestle and mortar (or you can use ground)
Half a teaspoon ground cinnamon
Chilli flakes or powder, to taste
Half a lemon, cut into wedges, to serve
Extra chilli flakes or hot chilli sauce, to serve

Method

Start by making the tomato sauce. Finely chop one of the onions and start to fry in 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil. Chop the garlic cloves finely and add those after a couple of minutes, along with a good pinch of chilli flakes or powder (you can adjust according to how spicy you like it).

Finely slice the other two onions and fry them in 3 tsp oil over a medium-high heat until well browned and ideally, a bit crispy (you might need more oil for your onions to go really crispy, but personally, I  don't worry too much.)

Add the cumin, cinnamon and chilli flakes or powder to a large dry saucepan and toast them for about 30 seconds before adding the lentils, rice and pasta with just enough water to stop them sticking. Cover and warm through on a low heat (you could also warm the cooked rice and pasta separately in the microwave, if you prefer, and then stir them into the lentils and spices).

You can serve in individual bowls, or in one big bowl and let people serve themselves. The lentil/ rice/pasta mixture goes in first, then the tomato sauce, then finally the onions and chick peas on top.

Serve with the following extra condiments: lemon wedges to squeeze over, chilli flakes or chilli sauce.