Egypt is one of the
most known country of its great civilization, unique culture, lifestyle, people
and its food. As many of the tourists
and travelers who come to Egypt are striving
for tasting lots of different kinds of Egyptian food and could also ask for a
special Egyptian food tour so they can have the chance to taste every famous
dish in the country.
So here we want you
to explore with the 20 top traditional Egyptian food with a wide variety of the Traditional Egyptian Cuisine,
Ingredients and Dishes you would not need to miss. Let’s Dig Deeper in the
Delicious Egyptian local cuisines:
1-Kushari 
A
mix of rice, spaghetti, small round macaroni, vermicelli, fried onions, black
lentils and hummus, topped
with thick tomato sauce, garlic and vinegar sauce and chilli sauce put together in some kind of art. That mix may
sound
strange, but it’s totally worth a try!
2-Mulukhiya
A
green leafy vegetable chopped and cooked with garlic in beef, rabbit or chicken
stew, and served with rice or bread.
One interesting thing about Mulukhiya is
that it gets prepared differently in different areas in Egypt. For example,
cities
that are located near the coast usually prepare it with fish or shrimp.
This dish is heaven, and so worth try.
3-Fatta
A Nubian dish that
is commonly prepared for occasions mostly religious ones. The dish consists of
layers of fried bread
and rice, with tomato sauce cooked with garlic and
vinegar on top, meat soup and large pieces of meat. The dish is very
delicious
but very fattening so only eat on special occasions.
4-Sayadeya
A dish that is
mainly cooked in coastal cities like Suez, Portsaid and Alexandria. It is made
of white fish such as bass
or bluefish, and cooked with yellow rice, onion,
spices, and tomato sauce. It is then baked in an earthenware pot.
5-Ful Medames
One of the most
common primary foods for Egyptians, this dish consists of lava beans prepared
with oil and lemon juice.
You can also add garlic or onion if you prefer. Ful
can be prepared in many different ways, and people eat it with butter,
spicy
oil, olive oil, tomato sauce, pepper, pastrami, parsley, sausage, and boiled or
fried eggs. It is believed that Ful
was cooked all the way back in ancient
Egypt.
6-Ta’meya (Egyptian Falafel)
Another common food
for Egyptians that is usually served with Ful. The Ta’meya or Falafel is mainly
prepared
out of crushed fava beans mixed with other ingredients, then it gets
fried. It is usually served with tahina and salad
with Egyptian bread.That’s a
perfect dish for vegetarians too!
7-Alexandrian Liver and Sausages
Belonging to street
food but also cooked at home. The liver is prepared with spicy pepper, and
garlic or
onion may be added. As for the sausage, it is usually cooked in
different ways, but mostly with
tomato sauce and spicy pepper. They’re both
served with pickles.
8-Kebab & Kofta
If you’re a meat
lover, then this is a must try! Kebab is prepared with pieces of grilled meat
(lamb or veal).
As for Kofta,
it is piece of minced meat and is also prepared
on the grill. Both are served with Egyptian bread,
salads and tahina.
9-Besarah
Another perfect food
for vegetarians! A green creamy mash prepared of parsley, dill, leek, grinded
fava beans, spices,
green pepper, and fried onions on the top. Served with
Egyptian bread and green onions.
10-Shawarma
Shawarma one of the tasty Egyptian dishes, it is a large cone of pressed lamb or
chicken that is rotated vertically in front
of a flame grill. As the meat is
cooked it is sliced off and mixed on a griddle with chopped tomato, onion
and parsley before being rolled in a large disc of flatbread and wrapped in foil to
take away.
11-Pigeon
A traditional
delicacy food, pigeons (Hamaam) are bred throughout Egypt in conical pigeon
towers. They are stuffed
with seasoned rice or, even better, bulgur wheat
(freek) before being grilled or baked.
12-Egyptian Desserts
Egyptian desserts
are quite light. Mahalabiya is a delicate rosewater-flavored ground rice
dessert, topped with toasted
nuts and cinnamon. Um Ali is similar to the
English bread and butter pudding but is less soft and spongy
as it is made with
local dry bread. Roz bi laban is rice pudding, which is always served cold.
13-Baklava
Egyptians are big
fans of the sticky for this kind of food, syrup-drenched, nut-filled filo
pastries known collectively as
baklava. There are numerous different kinds such
as konafa, which has a cream base and a crunchy vermicelli
pastry crust and
Basbousa, made of semolina pastry soaked in honey and topped with hazelnuts.
14-Feteer Meshaltet
One of the
traditional old food, Fiteer is a light, flaky multilayered bread made from
dough stretched paper-thin and
folded several times. It is served stuffed with
minced meat or cheese or just plain brushed with Samneh (ghee) or
dusted with
icing sugar.
15-Baba Ganoush
While many think it
was invented in Lebanon, baba ganoush is a dish you will soon find on Egyptian
restaurant menus.
It’s a cream of roasted eggplant, olive oil, garlic, sesame
paste (tahini) and lemon, very similar in texture
to hummus, which like hummus
is eaten with pita bread.
16-Mahshi
Another great dish
for vegetarian travelers. It basically consists of baked vegetables, usually
peppers, zucchini or
aubergine, stuffed with rice mixed with aromatic herbs
(parsley, coriander).It is accompanied by a drink sauce.
17-Umm Ali
This is a must-have
dessert, even if you set foot in Egypt for a few minutes. Om Ali, which means Ali’s mother, is made
of layers of puff pastry soaked in
milk and mixed with nuts, raisins, coconut flakes, and sugar, and then baked. The baked
dough with the hot milk, complemented with several different
ingredients makes this a dish to remember.
A tasty dessert that has crossed borders, the Basbousa is of
Ottoman origin. Found in different countries, it is favored
by people all over
the world. The name of the delicacy changes from country to country, it is called Basbousa
in Egypt.
The Egyptian version is usually thin, soaked in sweet syrup, soft
inside and covered with almonds and fresh cream.
19-Baked sweet potato
This healthy delicacy is one of the cheapest desserts in Egypt and
costs around 5 Egyptian pounds.The
locals usually line up by the cart, and the sweet potatoes are baked in
front of them in a wood-fired
oven.The sweet potato is cut in two halves and delivered to enthusiastic diners on a
piece of paper or newspaper.
Today, there are even modernized carts that sell
the sweet potato with ice cream, caramel sauce, chocolate,
and nuts as toppings
20-Beverages and Drinks
And finally, a short
note on tea, one of Egypt’s most popular beverages. You can drink black tea
virtually anywhere
in several different forms, with varying methods of
preparation and amounts of sugar.
Herbal teas are also
popular, especially refreshing hibiscus tea. Mint tea is another great option.
You may see
fresh mint leaves lending flavor to black teas or lemonades as
well. Whether you’re sipping black tea over breakfast or
relaxing with a cold
hibiscus tea after lunch,
you’re sure to appreciate Egypt’s tea-drinking
culture as much as its incredible food.