Cuisine

• Rabbit أرنب is raised by many people in Egypt for food purposes. An excellent dish is Molokheya with Rabbit ملوخية بالأرانب

• Chicken
• Batt Baladi بط بلدي (Duck - Mainly domesticated Muscovy Duck, normaly the male Drake)
• 7amamحمام - Pigeons are raised in special 'towers' and pre-flight chicks are used, before their meat becomes harder from flight.
• Turkey ديك رومي - دندي

Meat

Egyptians mainly eat beef, and more specifically veal. Mutton is not very commonly used in day to day cooking for city folk or even rural agricultural areas, contrary to the practice in most neighboring countries. Mutton is reserved for "eating out" barbeque as "Kabab". The Bedouin inhabitants of the desert make it their main meat.

• Molokheyya - Jew's Mallow ملوخية This is made into a green slimy soup with dried coriander and garlic. The soup is normally Rabbit, Chicken, or Duck. We have a special page dedicated to it.
• Colcassia (Ol2as) قلقاس Tuber roots made into cubes and a green stew, or sliced and cooked with Tomatoe
• Bamia - Okra - Lady's Finger بامية The fruit of a Hibiscus plant. Cooked with Tomatoes
• Regla - Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) رجلة While this is considered a weed in some parts of the world, in Egypt, this is an edible succulent vegetable with fleshy round leaves . Cooked in a tomato sauce.
• Khobeiza خبيزة
  

• Gargeer جرجير - Water cress
• Fegl فجل - Radish. Two types are eaten, white longish roots, and the red round ones common elsewhere.
• Korrat كرات - Leeks
• Basal Akhdar بصل أخضر - Green Onions
• Malana ملانة - This is green chickpea shoots. Eaten in Sham El Neseem شم النسيم, a spring celebration from ancient times
• Serees سريس
• Galawen جلاوين

• Koshariكشري There are two version of this dish:
  • Genuine This consists of red lentils and rich cooked together. Eaten with fresh onions, and dried herrings.
  • Cairene This consists of red lentils, rice, black lentils (with the seed cover), macaroni together.

Ful (Fava Beans) and its derivatives

What Egyptians call Ful is Fava beans (or Broad Beans). This is a staple for Egyptians, and is considered the national dish.

• 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
  

There are several forms of bread that are uniquely Egyptian.

• 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
  

Some ingredients in the Egyptian cuisine are not found in other places.

• 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.

These are items that are used as a preamble for a big meal, or as treats and snacks at some other time.

• 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