Your Egypt

[Winky]

Arabic food can rival any international gastronomy for originality and good taste, and, because it basically comprises simple, natural and easily digested foodstuffs, it ranks high in nutritional value with today's fitness-conscious society.

Winky says; I only went to Oriental restaurants as they call them apart from one lunch in a Chinese in Zamalek.
I love the Arabic especially the Lebanese cuisine !
Recommended Restaurants in Cairo
http://www.yallabina.com/

Arabic Bread (Khubz Arabi, pita)
Flat, round bread, which can be easily split to make a sandwich, or broken apart and used as a utensil for scooping food

Arayess
Deep-fried lamb sandwich

Ataif (gatayef, kataif)
Small pancakes stuffed with nuts or cheese and doused with syrup

Baba Ghanoush
Char-grilled eggplant, tahina, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic purée - served as a dip

Baharat (bjar)
Arabic mixed spices

Bamia
Baby okra and lamb in tomato stew

Baklawa (baklava)
Dessert of layered pastry filled with nuts and steeped in honey-lemon syrup - usually cut into triangular or diamond shapes

Basboosa
Semolina tart soaked with syrup

Bukhari Rice
Lamb and rice stir-fried with onion, lemon, carrot and tomato paste

Burghul (bulghur wheat, bulgar)
Parboiled and dried wheat kernels processed into grain, used in tabbouleh and mixed with lamb in kibbeh

Cardamom
Aromatic spice, member of the ginger family, used to flavour Arabic coffee, yoghurt and stews

Coriander (cilantro)
Lacy, green-leaf relative of the parsley family with an extremely pungent flavour akin to a combination of lemon, sage and caraway.

Ejje
Arabic omelette

Falafel
Small deep-fried patties made of highly-spiced ground chick-peas

Fatayer
Pastry pockets filled with spinach, meat or cheese

Fattoush
Salad of toasted croutons, cucumbers, tomatoes and mint

Foul (ful)
Slow-cooked mash of brown beans and red lentils, dressed with lemon, olive oil and cumin

Gahwa (kahwa)
Coffee

Haleeb
Milk

Halwa (halva)
Sesame paste sweet, usually made in a slab and studded with fruit and nuts

Hamour
Red Sea fish of the grouper family

Hommus
Purée of chickpeas, tahina, lemon and garlic - served as a dip with Arabic bread

Jarish
Crushed wheat and yoghurt casserole

Jebne
White cheese

Kabsa
Classic Arabian dish of meat mixed with rice

Kebab
Skewered chunks of meat or fish cooked over charcoal

Kamareddine
Apricot nectar used to break fast during Ramadan

Khubz Marcook
Thin, dome-shaped Arabic bread

Kunafi (kunafah)
Shoelace pastry dessert stuffed with sweet white cheese, nuts and syrup

Kibbeh (kibbe)
Oval-shaped nuggets of ground lamb and burghul

Kibbeh Naye
Raw kibbeh, eaten like steak tartar

Koshary
Cooked dish of pasta, rice and lentils to which, onions, chillis and tomato paste are added

Kouzi
Whole lamb baked over rice so that rice absorbs the juice of the meat

Kufta (kofta)
Fingers, balls or a flat cake of minced meat and spices that can be baked or charcoal-grilled on skewers

Laban
Tangy-tasting sour milk drink widely used in cooking as a substitute for milk

Labenah
Thick creamy cheese, often spiced and used as a dip

Lahma Bi Ajeen
Arabic pizza

Loubia (fassulya)
Green beans cooked in tomato sauce

Ma'amul
Date cookies shaped in a wooden mould called a tabi

Makloubeh
Meat or fish with rice, broad beans and cauliflower

Mai
Water

Mantou
Dumplings stuffed with minced lamb

Markok
Lamb and pumpkin stew

Mehshi
Means stuffed - aubergines, courgettes, vine leaves or cabbage may be stuffed with a mixture of minced meat, rice and onions

Melokhiyyah
Green, spinach-like vegetable
or
Molokheya is an annual herb. In the Middle East, it is grown for its leaves.
The latin name for Molokheya is "Corchorus olitorius"
Molokheya is served with plain rice, or with full wheat flat bread
Molokheya, also known as Jew's Mallow, is one of Egypt's national dishes, as well as other countries in the Middle East region.


Mezze (mezza, meze, mezzah)
The Arabic word for appetiser

Mish mish
Apricots

Mouhammara
Mixture of ground nuts, olive oil, cumin and chillis, eaten with Arabic bread

Moutabel
Eggplant dip made with tahina, olive oil and lemon juice

Mubassal
Onion pancakes

Muhalabiyyah
Silky textured semolina pudding served cold

Musakhan
Chicken casserole with sumac

Mutabak
Sweet or savoury pastry turnovers usually stuffed with cheese, banana or meat

Najil
Saddle-back grouper

Rocca
Aromatic salad green with a peppery mustard flavour, used in salads or mixed with hot yoghurt

Sambusek
Triangular pies filled with meat, cheese or spinach

Sayyadiya
Delicately-spiced fish dish served on a bed of rice

Seleek
Lamb and rice dish where the rice is cooked in milk rather than the juice of the meat

Shai (chai)
Tea

Shaour
Red Sea fish from the emperor family

Shawerma
A cone of pressed lamb, chicken or beef roasted on a vertical spit where the meat is shaved off from the outside as the spit keeps turning. Saudi Arabia's most popular sandwich is Arabic bread filled with shawerma meat, salad, hot sauce and tahina

Sheesha (hubbly bubbly)
Pipe for smoking tobacco leaves or dried fruit through a water filter

Shish Taouk
Skewered chicken pieces cooked over charcoal

Shourba
Soup

Snober
Pine nuts

Sukkar
Sugar

Sumac
Ground powder from the cashew family, used as a seasoning

Tabbouleh
Salad of burghul, tomato, mint and parsley

Taklia
Spice consisting of ground coriander and garlic

Tahina
An oily paste made from ground sesame seeds, used in hommus, moutabel and baba ghanoush

Tamr
Dates

Taratour
A thick mayonnaise of puréed pine nuts, garlic and lemon, used as a sauce or dip

Um Ali
'Ali's mother' is a pastry pudding with raisins and coconut steeped in milk

Warak Enab (warak dawali)
Stuffed vine leaves

Yansoon
Hot spiced tea, used for medicinal purposes

Zatoon
Olives

Zattar
Blend of spices including thyme, marjoram, sumac and salt

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[Winky]

UNIQUE EGYPTIAN INGREDIENTS

Samnah Baladi سمنة بلدي (Egyptian Ghee)
This is the Egyptian Ghee, made from the Water Buffalo's Milk, and therefore totally white and harder than normal cow's ghee.

Zebdah Baladi زبدة بلدي (Egyptian Butter)
This is obtained by melting the Samnah Baladi. The result is hard white butter rolled into large balls.

Laban Rayeb لبن رايب
This is a uniquely countryside product. This is a youghurt like product, made more or less like regular youghurt, but in special earthen ware containers (called Shalya شالية very similar to a large flower pot) after warming the traditional oven.



APPETIZERS

Mekhalel / Torshi - Pickles
The Egyptian word Mekhalel مخلل means 'Pickled', and the origin lies in خل which is vinegar. The Torshi word is borrowed from Turkish. The following things are used for pickles in Egypt:

Turnips لفت
Onions
Carrots
Cucumbers
Chilli Peppers
Olives
Gebnah Roomi / Gebnah Torki جبنة رومي، جبنة تركي
Roman Cheese / Turkish Cheese. This is probably a local variation on "Parmigiano-Reggiano", from Parma, Italy.

Gebnah Areesh جبنة قريش
White Cheese, home made by farmers, drained in straw matts, and has very low salt content

Mesh مش
This is Gebnah Areesh but aged for years, with hot Chilli pepper added.

Mortah مورطة
After boiling the home made Zebdah Baladi زبدة بلدي to make Samnah

Baladi سمنة بلدي, the residue left is Mortah, used as an appetizer.

Feseekh فسيخ - Putrid Mullet fish
dried then salted grey mullet fish.

Batarekh بطارخ - Salted and Dried Fish Roe
This is the Egyptian Caviar.

Sardeen Memalla7 سردين مملح - Salted Sardines

Bastermah (or Basterma) بسطرمة - similar to Pastrami
This is borrowed from the Turks. It is beef that is dried and salted, and coated with a paste made from a mix fenugreek (helba حلبة), garlic, and paprika, and salt. It is then left in the air and sun to dry. Used in breakfast, with eggs, and as a snack.

Sogo2 ba2alli سجق بقالي
Dried Sausage


Types of BREAD:

3eish Shami (Syrian Bread - Pita bread عيش شامي)
The strange thing about this type of bread, is that Egyptians call it Syrian, while the Syrians call it Egyptian! Why is that so? I don't know.
This type of bread is the flat rounded type made from white flour. Upon baking in the oven, it separates into two layers, an upper one and a lower one. This is what makes it "pocket bread", and can be filled with other fodd stuff to make sandwitches.

3eish Baladi عيش بلدي
This type is very similar to the one above, except that it is made of whole wheat flour, and contains something that makes it sticky from the inside.
3eish Saymeenعيش صايمين (Fasting People's Bread)
This is thicker bread more like western types with lots of air inside. It is however round like most native Egyptian types.

3eish Meladden عيش ملدن
A very thin bread that is kind of hard. This is found only in the really rural areas.

3eish Dorah عيش درة
Made from Corn flour.

Feteer Meshaltet فطير مشلتت
This is a very delicious (and very unhealthy) classic Egyptian pastry. It is made in layers that are rolled and laced with Samnah, then cooked in a traditional oven. It is eaten with cheeses, honey, cream, ...etc.


FUL = FAVA BEANS (or Broad Beans).

Fool Medamesفول مدمس
Boiled overnight on a very low flame in special utensils. Some utensils are adapted to work on the glass of a small kerosene lamp قدرة دماسة سهاري

Fool Akhdarفول أخصر
Green fresh Fava Beans, eaten with white cheese

Besaraبصارة
Mashed Fava beans made into a puree and cooked, then poured into containers and left to "set".

Fool Nabetفول نابت
The fava beans are germinated a bit, before being made into a special soup.

Falafel / Ta3meyyaفلافل طعمية
A mixture of fava beans that are soaked overnight then mixed with other ingredients (onions, spring onions, leeks, stale bread, coriander) blended together, then made into patties that are fried. After they are fried, they are ade into sandwitches, eaten with Tahina (Sesame seed paste), pickles, salad. Yummy!