Skip to content
MealBudget
Get the app

Koshari

Egypt's national dish. Lentils, rice and macaroni under a sharp tomato sauce, with fried onions on top that everyone fights over.

Koshari, plated and ready to serve
Serves
6
Total time
60 min
Cost per serving (United States)
$5.69

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cup brown/green lentils
  • 1 1/2 cup long grain white rice
  • 8 oz elbow macaroni
  • 15 oz canned chickpeas
  • 3 yellow onions
  • 28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
  • 5 clove garlic
  • 3 tbsp white distilled vinegar
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Method

  1. Slice two onions thinly. Fry in the oil over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until deep brown and crisp. Lift onto paper towels and salt them. Keep the oil.

  2. Simmer the lentils in plenty of water for 20 minutes until tender but not collapsing. Drain.

  3. Cook the rice as you normally would. Boil the macaroni until just done and drain.

  4. Chop the remaining onion and soften it in two tablespoons of the onion oil. Add the crushed garlic and cumin, cook one minute, then add the tomatoes and vinegar.

  5. Simmer the sauce 15 minutes until it thickens and tastes sharp rather than sweet.

  6. Warm the drained chickpeas through in the sauce.

  7. Layer rice, then lentils, then macaroni in bowls. Ladle sauce over, then pile on the fried onions.

  8. Serve at once, while the onions are still crisp.

What this costs, country by country

Each figure is the ingredients for the full recipe at prices read in that country’s own shops, in its own currency. Nothing here is converted from dollars.

The cost of this recipe in 11 countries, each in its own currency, with how many of the 10 ingredients we could price in each. Figures are not converted between currencies, so the rows cannot be ranked against each other.
CountryWhole recipePer servingPriced from
United Kingdom£15.34£2.5610 of 10 ingredients
Australia$41.93$6.9910 of 10 ingredients
Egypt‏٨٢٠٫٤٨ ج.م.‏‏١٣٦٫٧٥ ج.م.‏10 of 10 ingredients
Spain14,80 €2,47 €10 of 10 ingredients
Germany26,17 €4,36 €10 of 10 ingredients
Mexico$534.10$89.0210 of 10 ingredients
Austria€ 42,05€ 7,0110 of 10 ingredients
United States$34.12$5.699 of 10 ingredients
New Zealand$31.90$5.329 of 10 ingredients
Greece17,72 €2,95 €9 of 10 ingredients
Canada$64.38$10.738 of 10 ingredients

Shopping somewhere we haven’t reached? See every price we hold and add what your shop charges.

The bigger number is usually the food that never gets cooked at all. Work out what your household throws away

Dinners that share a shopping list with this one