As per request I am doing a post on Egyptian Food.(if you haven't checked out chow's site I highly suggest doing so, some amazing food porn going on there)
Some disclaimers before I start.
I learned to cook egyptian from my mother in law- who knew no english, or measurements, so everything I am writing down is purely guess work.
Lower Egyptians (Cairo, Alexandria ect) eat different since they are able to access more different types of food, where I was stuck with what was in season or what I had preserved.

In the orthodox village I lived in, a traditional coptic person would fast 200 days out of the year. These fasts range from no food to vegan eating. This makes sense because most of those in upper (southern) egypt in the small villages are poor farmers. Meat is a luxury that one may have only when you are serving guests, wedding dinners or circumcisions. Those who are richer may have meat once or twice a week. I cooked meat (by meat I mean beef) perhaps once a month.

So here are 4 side dishes that are common in Egyptian dinners (I will add more cuisine in later posts)

So the first dish I will introduce is AISH (Life) or what we would call egyptian bread.
Egyptian Bread is made with fenugreek seed and maize- is 50 cm round and flat like a pita. The soft dough is fermented over night and traditionally baked in a mud kiln outside. Bread is the cornerstone of egyptian meals and most bakeries are government subsidized. Bread is life, considered sacred. With the bread not used (each family is allotted a certain amount everyday) it is placed on the roofs to dry then after 2 weeks crushed and mixed with water to be fed to livestock and chickens. Egyptians are the ultimate in recycling.
I am sorry I cant give a detailed account on how to make this as I was never fully able to understand the process.

Another common side dish served with everything from falafel to ful, is Preserved vegetables with lemons.

*Warning it is an aquired taste*

At my home we had tons of small, golf sized lemons. These were more tart then the american meyers (but meyers can be used as well you would just need to cut them in quarters instead of keeping them whole)
Here is my recipe for preserved mish mash (it's what I call it having forgotten the arabic name)
You will need
Any assortment of washed clean carrots, turnips, onion (all of them chopped as in the picture) whole lemons (for the smaller kind) and whole jalopenos
 1/2 cup Salt
Sterile preservative jars

After washing thoroughly and cutting your choice vegetable/lemon, cover each piece with a generous amount of salt. Place them in the sterile jar-occasionally squishing a lemon so that the lemon juices ooze out, add more lemon juice to the mixture if you like. fill to the very top. Add some more fresh squeezed lemon juice for good measure also add a few table spoons of salt. Trust me when it comes to egyptian food the saltier the better. (quick side theory- could it be they like salty food because salt retains water and water once was a scarcity in egypt? talk amongst yourselves.)

Seal jar and let it sit a room temp for a couple of days- occasionally inverting the jar so that the juices from the bottom drip to the top. Move to the fridgerator and let it sit for 3 weeks- again turning the jar every so often to mix the juices.

Eat lemons whole-rinds and all (if you are using meyers you will want to wash off the salt first) same with jalepenos. I find it best to use as a type of "relish" for on top of sandwiches, but most egyptians will pinch off a little of a veggie, fold it in the pita then dip it in Mulukhiyya

Which brings me to my last side dish for now
Mulukhiyya- also known as Jute Plant also known by me as easy go (because if you eat to much it makes you go easy)


Some mulukhiya with aish and mango juice- MAYA MAYA (arabic for fabulous)

I have yet to find this in America- but I am going to search for it in a middle eastern market
The jute plant is chopped finely and dried.It is a national dish that dates back to the pharoahs.
What you will need

2 handfuls of fresh chopped jew's mallow (jute plant)
3 -5 cups of egyptian chicken stock*

Boil chicken stock in a pot- toss in a little bit of jute plant stirring occasionally. You want the soup to be the consistence of egg yolk (to test, get a spoon full and hold above pot while you drip it back in- if the soup is stringy snotty like then you have the right amount, if it is too watery- add more jute. If it is too thick add more stock)

Serve in a huge community bowel for people to dip their bread in or take spoonfuls over their rice


Roasted whole chickens over rice with fresh tomatoes, preserved veggies and boiled chilled eggplant.
a typical meal I would serve for guest

Billhanna Shiphrah (good appetite)

* Egyptian chicken stock
1 whole chicken boiled (make sure you skim the pot for fats) for an hour with salt and 2 whole sauted smashed garlics.
To saute garlic, peel each clove place in a bowl add 4 pinches of salt and pound with pestle, stone or I use the handle of a hammer. In a heated small pot put 3-5 tablespoons of butter. melt it. add pounded garlic. stir continuously till garlic reddens and add to boiled chicken

Dirout is a village an hour away from my egyptian home. This past weekend the news reported that a muslim girl was raped on video tape by a christian boy.
This video was then circulated on the internet.
When her parents found out they killed the boy's father and mother and raped his sister.
The boy is still missing- most assume he has run away.
The police have now arrested 4 of the girls family members and they are awaiting trial.
Meanwhile, people in the streets are rioting over this horrible crime. Shops are being looted, churches are being burnt down and a number of christian girls have been raped and left in the streets naked. There has been a self imposed curfew in order to regain some control.

Egyptians KNOW justice. Retribution is a nomadic code of living. In a harsh environment where babies are born dead, crops may not grow, livestock grow thin, retribution grantees that you may live to see another day, that justice was served, that honor was restored.

Egyptians don't know mercy, true forgiveness. Though they are VERY funny people in light of all the hard circumstances they tend to hold life long grudges and the farther south you go the more so this is true.
I am not condoning either of the families actions but just explaining the village mentality. It is "you do something to me- so I will repay you with that same thing and THEN some so that you will learn your lesson and never attack me and make me feel weak again." It is a story of control and defeat.
It is a story that will eventually destroy the Egyptian nation.
So many people do not realize with this war in the middle east or the peace talks in israel/palestine you are dealing with honor/shame societies. So that when you bomb a families home- they will use all there aim to retaliate and then some!

I am saddened for the muslim girl, often women who have been raped will be turned out of their homes, because of the shame "she caused" I feel sad for her family, the pain and bitterness will eat at their soul. I am fearful for the christians in this village and near by, for they are second class citizens and probably won't get recompensed for their damaged goods or churches. But most of all my heart breaks for Egypt- silly, oppressive, patriarchal nonsensical Egypt. you call your river a gift of life- but your people only choose ways of death.