Timeless Egyptian Classics

Egyptian cooking is one of the world's most ancient living food traditions, shaped over thousands of years along the Nile and still eaten much the same way today. It leans on humble, filling ingredients, grains, pulses, greens and bread, turned into dishes with real depth of flavour.

The national dish is koshari, a street-food bowl of rice, lentils, pasta and chickpeas under a spiced tomato sauce and crisp fried onions. Alongside it sit the everyday staples: molokhia, the green jute-leaf stew found on nearly every family table; ful medames, the slow-cooked fava beans eaten for breakfast; and kebda eskandarany, the spicy Alexandrian liver sandwich sold from carts across the country.

Stuffed vegetables, known as mahshi, are almost a cuisine of their own, from stuffed courgettes to stuffed aubergines, each packed with spiced rice and herbs. No Egyptian meal is ever far from bread either: eish balady, the puffed wholemeal flatbread that doubles as both plate and spoon.

Egyptian sweets are simple and comforting, from basbousa, the syrup-soaked semolina cake, to mahalabia, a delicate milk pudding. Browse the full collection of traditional Egyptian recipes below, each with step-by-step instructions, ingredients and cooking tips.