Koshari

Koshari (also spelled kushari) is the national street food of Egypt: a carbohydrate feast layering rice, brown lentils and small pasta, topped with chickpeas, a garlicky spiced tomato sauce and a generous heap of crispy fried onions. A splash of garlic-vinegar and chilli sauce is added to taste.

Entirely vegan and famously cheap, it is sold everywhere from street carts to dedicated koshari shops, mixed together into one satisfying, deeply savoury bowl.

Koshari emerged in the late nineteenth century, a product of Egypt's position on global trade routes: the lentils-and-rice base echoes Indian khichri, the pasta arrived with Italians, and the tomato sauce with the Mediterranean. It became the food of workers and soldiers.

Today it is a point of national pride and an everyday equaliser, eaten by all classes. The rhythmic clatter of servers mixing bowls is part of the experience in Cairo's famous koshari houses.