Four Local Recipes to Get You Through Egyptian Winters
It is officially freezing in Egypt, both outdoors and in! Cairo got a nice shower of hail yesterday in the early morning – as well as a heavy dose of rain – and the mountains in Sinai are covered with patches of ice and frozen puddles. One wouldn’t necessarily expect it, but Egypt can get bitterly cold, and a lack of proper heating or insulation means that the indoors rarely offer any respite from the chill. If anything, it can often be much colder inside than out. Certain parts of the country even experience below zero temperatures and snow covered mountains are becoming a more regular occurrence in Saint Katherine.
Winter in Egypt means gathering around heaters with heavy wool blankets and as many layers as you can manage. It means warm comfort foods that soothe achy bones and bring the circulation back to your frozen fingertips. City streets are lined with vendors selling baked sweet potato and a spicy chickpea broth called Hommos el Sham. Fires flicker all across the country, on city streets as well as in the fields, surrounded by friends, relatives and neighbours drinking tea and telling jokes.
Winter might not last long here, but for some it’s a welcome break from the hot sun and dry weather. For others, it’s much closer to pain than pleasure. Regardless of your preference, we all enjoy the relief that comes from those warm and cozy winter indulgences. You can easily find any of these at local cafes, restaurants and street vendors, but if you’re stuck at home with the flu, or just too lazy to venture out into the cold, here are a few easy recipes to help you de-stress, defrost.
Hommos el Sham – Chickpea Soup in a Cup
With Neolithic origins in Turkey and the Levant, chickpeas are an important staple in regional cuisine and have been for thousands of years. You’ll find them in everything from soups and stews to dips, Fattah and falafel (although here in Egypt we use foul instead). But Egypt’s favorite way of consuming them in winter is in this warm and spicy drink; a twist of lemon adds a touch of zestiness.
Ingredients:
1 cup of dry chickpeas
1 medium tomato cut into quarters
1 chopped medium yellow onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup tomato sauce or 2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. salt
Ground cumin, pepper, chili powder to taste
Preparation:
Wash chickpeas and soak in water at least for 3 hours, changing the water once or twice.
Drain the water then put the chickpeas into a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat.
Reduce heat to medium, and simmer the chickpeas for 20 minutes, skimming the foam every now and then. Add onion, tomato, garlic and tomato sauce and salt then keep simmering the chickpeas until it is done, will take about an hour. Add spices to taste and serve hot with a spritz of lemon.
Recipe by Amira’s Pantry
Sahlab
The West has hot chocolate, we have Sahlab, a warm, creamy and incredibly rich drink made out of ground orchid tubers. The drink has ancient roots, with early examples existing during Roman times. However it was the Ottomans that really made it theirs and contributed to it spreading as far as Germany and England. In Turkey and other areas in the Levant, rose and orange blossom water are added to make it more fragrant, here in Egypt, the addition of choice is usually cinnamon or grated coconut, and of course sugar, lots of it! Unfortunately, the popularity of the drink has led to the near extinction of the specific type of orchid from which sahlab flour is obtained, so cornstarch is used as a substitute.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp rose or orange blossom water (optional)
Cinnamon powder and crushed nuts for topping
Preparation:
Start by warming up your milk in a saucepan. Combine the cornstarch and water to make a thick slurry.
As the milk starts getting warm, add the slurry and mix well, making sure to keep stirring occasionally until the mixture thickens. Add in the sugar and rose water and cook for another minute. And finally, serve hot with a sprinkle of cinnamon and crushed nuts.
Recipe adapted from The Big Sweet Tooth
Batata – Baked Sweet Potato
Another Egyptian favorite during the cold winter months is batata, or sweet potato, which Egyptians really only consume one way, baked until soft and sticky. Sweet potatoes are incredibly nutritious. They are a fantastic source of fiber, Vitamin A and C, they’re rich in antioxidants, calcium and iron, and they help promote gut health. They are now a staple of the Egyptian diet during winter, and vendors with special ovens can be found all over our cities selling hot, baked batata wrapped in newspaper and ready to eat on the go. For an easy treat, you can just bake them whole, skin and all, until they start to release their sugars. Split them open and enjoy as is, or add a bit of cinnamon, sugar and fresh cream for something a little more indulgent. For a savory snack, you can substitute the sugar, cream and cinnamon for salt, cumin and chili powder, although Egyptians rarely consume sweet potato as a savory ingredient. If you feel like going all out, go for a sweet potato and béchamel casserole, a local favorite.
Ingredients:
8-9 sweet potatoes
1/4 cup hazelnuts
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1 cinnamon stick
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Wash and peel sweet potatoes and chop into disks. Dump sweet potato disks into a large pot and fill with just enough water to cover the sweet potatoes. Mix 1 cup sugar into the water and add cinnamon stick. Boil sweet potatoes until they are soft (about 15-20 minutes). Drain sweet potatoes, saving the sugar-water liquid and discarding the cinnamon stick. Mash sweet potatoes and spread the mixture into the bottom of an 8x9 casserole dish. In a saucepan, cook flour with 1 cup of the reserved sugar-water and add in 2 cups of milk, stirring continuously until the mixture thickens. Add more sugar into bechamel to taste.
Pour the bechamel on top of the sweet potato mixture (make sure the mixture has cooled down so the béchamel doesn’t become too runny) and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until bechamel layer turns golden brown. Serve hot with a sprinkle of chopped nuts or a dollop of fresh cream for extra richness.
Recipe by Eat Pretty
Shorbet ‘Aads – Egyptian Lentil Soup
Another Egyptian favorite, lentil soup is one thing we can’t live without during winter, aside from the heater. It’s absolutely packed full of protein and fiber, as well as potassium, iron and vitamin B. Lentils have been a part of our regional diet for thousands of years and they’re an essential staple of Middle Eastern cuisine. There are a surprising number of varieties, but here in Egypt we mainly use brown and red lentils in local dishes, and for lentil soup, it has to be red. There are few things as deliciously comforting as a bowl of well-made and piping hot lentil soup.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
2 medium shallots, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic
2 cups red lentils, washed and drained
2 tsp. ground turmeric
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. salt (adjust to taste)
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper, more or less to taste
4 cups boiling water
Preparation:
Cut the carrot into chunks, peel your garlic and chop up the shallots into quarters. In a heavy bottomed pot or dutch oven, melt butter and add garlic, shallots and carrots, allowing them to soften. Add lentils, turmeric, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Mix everything together in the pot and continue to stir for 4-5 minutes, or until fragrant. Pour in water, and mix the contents of the pot again, bringing the water up to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover before leaving to simmer for 15-20 minutes (or until the lentils are tender). Once the lentils are cooked, use an immersion blender to puree the soup. If you prefer your soup with a bit more texture, blend until you get the consistency you want. Serve hot with crispy bread croutons and a squeeze of lemon.
The temperature is dropping to an all-time low these days, and while some of us are lucky to have heaters and warm winter clothes, that’s not the case for everyone. Consider donating heavy blankets to those living in the streets and to local animal shelters. Every little bit helps. Stay warm everyone!