The Table of Egypt

A cuisine of beans and bread, herbs and slow-cooked greens, finished with syrup and nuts — generous, everyday and deeply Egyptian.

Savoury

The everyday feast

Six dishes that define the Egyptian table, from the national bowl of koshari to the coastal rice of sayadeya.

Koshari

Egypt's beloved national dish — rice, lentils, macaroni and chickpeas under crisp fried onions and a tangy tomato-garlic sauce.

Ful & Falafel

Slow-stewed fava beans (ful medames) with ta'meya, the green, herb-flecked Egyptian falafel made from fava rather than chickpea.

Molokhia

A silky, garlicky green soup of jute-mallow leaves, simmered with coriander and served over rice with chicken, rabbit or beef.

Stuffed Pigeon

Hamam mahshi — pigeon roasted and stuffed with seasoned freekeh or rice, a celebratory dish prized across Egypt.

Feteer

Feteer meshaltet, a many-layered flaky pastry pulled paper-thin and baked golden, served plain, savoury or with honey.

Sayadeya

A coastal favourite of spiced fish baked over caramelised-onion rice, fragrant with cumin — the taste of Alexandria and the Red Sea.

Sweets

The honeyed finish to any Egyptian meal — and the heart of every celebration.

Kunafa

Fine shredded pastry over sweet cheese or cream, baked crisp and drenched in syrup — a centrepiece of Ramadan tables and celebrations.

Basbousa

Syrup-soaked semolina cake, tender and grainy, crowned with an almond and often scented with coconut or orange-blossom water.

Om Ali

Egypt's warm bread-and-milk pudding baked with nuts and raisins — comfort food wrapped in a famous medieval palace legend.

Qatayef

Folded pancakes stuffed with nuts or sweet cream, then fried or baked in syrup — made almost exclusively during Ramadan.