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 ;-)
