travel food

Koshari

I have decided to give you one of our special travelling recipes. While we travel it is often impossible to carry along fresh food due to many circomstances.
In Egypt, we came across a traditional dish that is actually a mix of lots of stuff. It doesn't look very attractive, but the taste is great.
As we were cycling from France to Norway, in the grocery store I found some fried onions that reminded me of this Egyptian dish...... since then we have been eating it a lot to change from pastas with cheese...
Kushari is a traditional Egyptian meal that consists of a strange combination of macaroni, spaghetti, rice, black lentils, chick peas, garlic sauce and a spicy tomato chili sauce, all topped with fried onions. It is sold from carts by street vendors, in restaurants or even made at home and each is considered a different taste experience. 
Our 'expedition' version of this dish is very easy and very yummy. We buy instant rice, macaroni and fried onions. Check the cooking time of both rice and macaroni. 
Boil the rice (300gr), add the macaroni (200gr) at the right timing so rice and macaroni are cooked at the same time. drain and serve. add fried onions on top and enjoy!
If you are interested, here is the 'real' recipe:
 
KOSHARY (EGYPTIAN, LENTILS, RICE AND MACARONI) 
1 1/8 c. brown lentils
1 c. elbow macaroni
1/2 c. long grain rice
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
SAUCE: 2 minced onions
2 crushed cloves garlic
2 tbsp. oil
16 oz. can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp. wine vinegar
1 chili pepper, crumbled (either fresh or dried)
1 tbsp. chopped parsley
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Place lentils in saucepan and cover with boiling water. Bring to boil and simmer 30 to 40 minutes. Drain.Meanwhile, prepare sauce. Fry onions and garlic in oil 5-10 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, vinegar, and chili pepper and simmer 10 minutes until thickened. Add parsley, season to taste.
While sauce is cooking, boil macaroni and rice together in water for 12 minutes. Drain. Mix together lentils, macaroni and rice, season to taste. Place on heated serving dish. Pour tomato mixture over all. Serve hot.