Egypt… You put the ‘E’ in delicious!

Sorry everyone for taking so long to get this up. Lots has been happening and usually when I find 5 mins to sit down I end up falling asleep, but my Egypt write is done so I hope you enjoy J

The trip to Egypt was wonderful.

Every dish I made was enjoyed by all - almost everyone had seconds. It is definitely a place country that loves to eats their carbs –lots of rice and pasta. However mixed with the lentils, tomato sauce, crispy onion and spices I didn’t mind one bit J

Definitely recipes I would use again and again and again - Thank you Egypt.

Preparation time: (how long does it really take?)

Kushari – 10 minutes tops – once you have all the ingredients it’s a simple case of cook, layer  and serve.

Macaroni Bechamel – 10 mins. Open a bag of pasta, pull the mince out of the fridge and put the jar of béchamel sauce on the bench and you are ready.

Mehalabeya – 5 mins then about 40 mins to cook –worth it though J

Ease to cook: (what does it involve?)
Kushari – really easy to do. Cook the rice, pasta, lentils, onion and tomato sauce. Layer them or you can mix them together and it’s done.

Macaroni Bechamel – if you can cook mince and pasta, use a spoon and a turn on an oven you’ll be fine. Not hard at all to layer everything before putting it in the oven to cook

Mehalabeya – Little time consuming as you have to stand over it to ensure it thickens and doesn’t burn.  

Overall: (i'll use a scale of empty bowls - 5 empty bowls is the best - 1 empty bowl not the best J)

Rather than boring you with my opinion, this time I thought I’d let the boys share their overall scores and thoughts.

Kushari  - 5 empty bowls – this dish was tasty and filling – the combination of the onion and spicy tomato sauce is wonderful. You possibly could leave out the pasta and just have the rice and lentils, but all in all a great, meat free meal.

Macaroni Bechamel – 5 empty bowls – I love lasagne and this in my opinion is a variant on that. Not as creamy as the lasagne mum would make, but it was delicious. I never would have thought to use the pasta in this way. I’ll definitely be keeping this recipe up my sleeve. Really ease to prepare, cook and tastes great along with a salad.

Mehalabeya - 3 empty bowls – was nice, but it didn’t do it for me. I had to add a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.  It may have been my cooking, but I felt it lacked something. If I ever do make it to Egypt for real then I would love to try another though.  

Hope as always you enjoy the video of all the pictures. I have chosen my next destination – thanks Nat – but you’ll have to wait a few days before I tell the world where I am going next ;-)