So, I've decided to go with a few more factual, travel-type posts, for various reasons, but mostly in that they may be actually helpful! Here is the first such post, on a topic close to many hearts;
There’s something oddly reassuring about a country where the staple and “must try” foods are so very down to earth. (I will have this revelation in April in Alexandria, when I will also be reading the first of Bob Dylan’s memoirs, and deciding that chronology counts less than you’d think.)
So, let me take you through a few of these not-so-delicacies, found in various forms across this great country:
Foul: (fool) this is the mortar that Egypt is built with. I’m not kidding, in some forms it resembles nothing so much as cement! It is made of fava beans in various textures and states, from whole beans in oil (breakfast in Alex) to completely purified (Arabiata) and everywhere in between. It can be flavoured as you like, topped with hummous or fried garlic or onions, tomatoes and hummous (Foul Iskandria/Alexandrian), served in a metal bowl for scooping or in a sandwich. It has a slightly bitter taste, but of course can be altered with flavourings, and will set you up for several hours of adventuring!
Tameya: (Tah-may-ah) or falafel to us foreigners, made with broad beans instead of chick peas as is often the case in England. They are best served freshly fried and crisp, and the broad beans give them a bright green colour and slightly crumblier texture. Again, as part of your mezze or in a sandwich with tahina and salad, they are fabulous!
Tahina: (tah-hee-na) more popular than hummous here, and available on most menus, this dip is made from sesame paste and will range from pleasantly bitter to fairly unobtrusive depending where you go.
Besara: (bes-ah-ra) Seems to be more popular in Alexandria, but a feature of Abu el Sid’s menu, this bean dip is made with lots of coriander and topped with fried garlic. It’s one of my favourites, next to…
Variations on the theme of Aubergines: these versatile vegetables are pickled with lemon and chilli or fried until crisp and golden and eaten as mezze with garlic oil and tomatoes or sandwiches and when they’re done right they are oh so right!
Baba Ganoug (ba-ba gan-oo) If you’re playing “check the spelling!” this is a great dish to do it with! We’ve seen some amazing variations, which reminds me, I must check the spelling in Arabic… Usually ended with –sh in English, this is the dip of roasted aubergine and garlic. Again, varies from place to place, sometimes smoky, sometimes smooth, another mezze staple.
Shawarma: (Sh’war-ma) these are the off-the-rotisary meat sandwiches. Choose your meat, choose your bread receptacle and off you go!
Pigeon: The first of the fiddly foods, pigeon is served by the bird. It comes stuffed with either rice or grains and herbs and is a very tasty, gamey bird. The best of the meat is on the breast, obviously, but you can wrestle a good amount from the legs and wings too if you have patience and are less fussed about cutlery. Try it. It’s worth it.
Fish: The second fiddly food, as in the seaside restaurants of Alexandria to the family kitchens of Cairo the cooking is done simply; remove the guts, season the whole fish, head to tail, and fry until crisp. Then it’s up to the diner to remove whatever they would like to eat from whatever they would not. The red mullet and bream in Alex were very good, I have yet to ask our Arabic tutor what his mother has cooked for us before. Also available in supermarkets and fresh restaurants are calamari (grilled is good, it comes with peppers and onions on a skillet), small crabs (delicious but a heck of an effort!) and clams, which after having them simply boiled by a professional I might be brave enough to try myself. They were cooked in some sort of broth of garlic and pepper and were soft, salty and delicious!
Fish Saideya (Say-a-day-a) or Said Style is the exception to frying. Like a tagine it is a one-pot dish of white fish in seasoned tomato sauce. Served on or with rice, it is guaranteed to satisfy a hungry Tiger and definitely worth sampling if you get chance!
Shrimp: Also a big favourite, but when they say “shrimp” they mean king sized and up. Hence their own section. Health warning. Some are very good, some less so, all are a bit more expensive then other seafoods/meat/vegetarian options. The local feeling is that Egyptians don’t believe in freezing; the protein must be fresh, but I am sceptical as to whether this is tenable in restaurants. If you fancy doing your own though, you can always find a good selection of fresh fish in this city.
Veal: Egypt really likes veal, and I was glad to see at Abu el Sid it is, as Hugh Fernly however-you-spell-it would describe it, rosé, meaning the calf has not had such a strict and damaging upbringing. I don’t eat it much, but the spinach and veal tagine at Abu el Sid’s is something else; tender chunks of pink veal in a spinach and garlic sauce. Wonderful.
Molokheya: (molo-back of the throat ‘kh’-hay-a) back to the very traditional. So traditional that sometimes foreigners are discouraged from eating it. Called Jew’s Mallow or just Mallow as it’s best translation, it’s a green leaf which is covered in broth and cooked, stirring occasionally, to make a glutinous, gloopy, green soup. I’m not a fan. I will happily pile fried garlic on it if it’s a matter of politeness, but I wouldn’t choose it from a menu. The Tiger likes it though!
Kosheri (ko-sher-ee) ALL THE CARBS! Rice, spaghetti and macaroni style pasta (both called marcarona here) with chick peas, green lentils and topped with tomato sauce and crispy fried onions. If in a café, you add your own amount of garlic vinegar (which you really must do! It brings the whole dish together!) and you can also have it with liver, if you so desire. It’s a fabulous boot-filler, and I think the most expensive bowl we’ve eaten so far was in Abu el Sid’s where it’s about 20LE, or 2.30GBP. On the street, it’s much cheaper.
Well, I think as I have begun and ended with stodge, I’ll leave it there for today and bring you dessert another time! Oh, and bakery produce is an entirely other section too! Hm… time for food, I think…
