Egyptian cuisine
Egyptian cuisine serves dishes typical of the entire Middle East. Islam sets the framework, which a Muslim will not exceed. There is no pork on the table, and alcohol is completely unavailable in many cities, except in the bars of the big tourist hotels. This prohibition is even more strictly observed in Ramadan.
Meals
The basis of the diet is bread (aish shami, white pita or dark aish baladi) and boiled beans (ful).
Ful is often mixed with lemon juice and caraway seeds. Oil and pepper can be added to the basic bean paste, as well as eggs, sliced tomatoes, onions or peppers. Bread is served with each dish – Breads made of coarse flour taste great.
Egyptians also like falafel (in Cairo taamiyya, tamija), dried bean meatballs (ful nabeyd) seasoned with herbs and fried in hot olive oil. Falafel can be eaten on its own, as an addition to the main course, or in pita bread as a snack; then lettuce and pickles are added to it (torshi).
Egyptians like stuffed vegetables: eggplants (conditionally) and paprika (filfd): they eat them cold and hot. The variation is baba ghanug – eggplant puree with sesame paste (tahini) with garlic and olive oil. There are also varieties of Polish lovebirds, but wrapped in grape leaves (warak enab). Stuffing is ground meat, rice, tomatoes, onion, mint and cinnamon.
The most common meat is mutton, less often beef. The meat is baked in small pieces on the wire rack (kebab) or added to stewed vegetables, and after grinding for stuffing. Chickens and pigeons are eaten – Egyptian delicacy. Pigeon (bath) is considered an aphrodisiac, therefore it is often a wedding dish. A famous soup is mulukhiyya from the leaves of a spinach-like plant. It is thick and at times resembles jelly. When the Egyptians eat together, they often share starters (mezze). The snacks are diverse, hot and cold.
Hummus goes well with salads (chickpea paste), pickled vegetables and malashi – stuffed vegetables. A popular salad is the tomato baladi salad, parsley, cucumber and lettuce with lemon juice and cumin.
Many of the dishes are based on rice and wheat; sometimes rice is served with thin dumplings. They are a regular element of the menu: bean, peas and lentils, from which soups are made, taken, frying and adding to meats.
Drinks
Tea is drunk at all times (shay) and coffee (ahwa): without these two drinks no meeting will take place, even a short visit to a shop or a souk. The drinks are strong and heavily sweetened. Tea is served in small glasses; a sprig of green mint is often swimming in it. Coffee is seasoned with cardamom and cinnamon, which gives it a wonderful smell and taste.
Strong coffee is served in small cups, also known as Turkish coffee: half of the cup is used for coffee grounds. Sahlab is a thick milk drink with arrowroot, cinnamon and nuts. It is often served in the evening. Karkadeh, red infusion of sudan mallow flowers, it is immensely popular in the south (it can be drunk cold and warm).
They serve various herbal infusions in cafes, how ifra – with cinnamon, yansun – with anise or slightly tart helba – z kozieradki.
Soki (captive) fruit are sold in juice bars. Orange juice is the most popular (asir burtuaal), banana (moz), with mango (manga), strawberry (farawla), with guava (gawafa), marchewkowy (gazar), from sugar cane (nerve) and pomegranate (ruman). You can drink lemon juice in the streets (asir laymun), tamaryndy (tamar hindi) or licorice (is like), however, buying such drinks may end badly due to the different bacterial flora (in addition, the vendors pour plain tap water into the juices).
Sweets
Egyptians love sweets, baklava is a typical delicacy, also known, among others. in Turkey: sweet and greasy puff pastry layered with orange flower syrup with mashed pistachios. Another delicacy is conf (it dies) – whipped foam baked as long, thin strands, removable from the sheet, while they are still soft. They are put on soft cheese or cream and eaten during Ramadan. Umm Ali is made of dry pita bread, raisin, nuts, coconut and cream, flooded with hot milk. Basbusa consists of semolina soaked in honey, sprinkled with nuts. Roz bi-laban is a creamy rice pudding with almonds and pistachios.
alcohol
As recommended by the Koran, a Muslim should not drink alcohol, yet it was in ancient Egypt that beer was invented. Admittedly, the drink made of barley was so thick, that it had to be sipped through a straw, but it was a great thirst quencher, it contained minerals and vitamins.
Alcohol can be bought in the bars of more expensive hotels, restaurants for tourists and a few duty-free shops. Unfortunately, for some time there has been a restriction on buying cheap western liquors – 48 hours after landing in Egypt and a note in the passport. Sometimes, in the Coptic district of Cairo, the Copts earn extra money by selling beer on average, downstairs in the basket ordered at the bottom of the cans. The local beer is quite tasty; the best brands are Saqqara, Stella Export and Stella Premium (stronger). Wine is also produced here, although he is far from the famous drink of the ancients, which the pharaohs and senators of Rome were drinking.
The red wine made from cabernet sauvignon grapes is Omar Khayyam, and white dry from the vine pi not blanc to Cru des Ptolemees. The more expensive Grand Marquis comes in white and red varieties.
In Egypt, local ouzo is also produced, called zibib. Egyptian counterfeits of famous brands are better avoided.