6 hours ago, Smithy said:I think another name for what @rotuts is asking about is "peasant food" in various regions: inexpensive, nutritious, filling, not particularly fancy. My husband's version of that is probably split pea stew, with chunks of ham and, if I have my way, chunks of potato also.
I'm drawing a blank on what my family might have had in that category, but I discovered a favorite in Egypt: khoshary. The Wikipedia link has some pictures. Here's what I wrote about it in (good grief, so long ago?) 2005:
We've made it here in the States a few times, but it's a pain because so many ingredients must be cooked separately before mixing them all together and it necessarily makes large quantities. It's much better for cooking for a crowd. I've never quite gotten the lemon / garlic sauce or the red sauce right, although I might do better at it now.
Hmm. The more I think of it, the more I might be willing to try it again. It IS nutritious, cheap, filling, and good.
That takes me back.
I was in Egypt in December of 1990 and spent most of the time in Sohag in the central part of the country and ate a lot of khoshary, mostly for lunch. Ful medames was the standard breakfast (usually with a hard cooked egg or a very thick yogurt cheese).
These were tasty and nutritious dishes but what I remember most was the smell of the freshly baked bread and the sight of it being delivered by men on bicycles balancing full open trays on their heads or across their handlebars (which our Antiquities Ministry hosts didn't want us photographing because they felt it didn't reflect 'Modern Egypt').
