My first piece for @eater explains that the history of koshari is packed with lessons for building a delicious grain bowl from a set of pantry staples and whatever else you’ve got on hand. A thread w/some highlights & extras... https://twitter.com/Eater/status/1260710778132402176?s=20

The timing of this piece is crucial for a few reasons: it was supposed to center on the new @ZoobaEats in NYC, but the pandemic sadly intervened (remember that Friday the 13th in March when everything changed? I was supposed to visit the Nolita Zooba the following Monday ).

So we pivoted to rewrite it as more of a piece about pantry cooking (yep, koshari is *that versatile*). Happily though, in the meantime, both Zooba in Cairo and in NYC reopened for delivery & takeout. Please support them if you are able! https://www.zoobaeats.com/usa-homepage/ 

It also happens to be my birthday today (!) Anyway, some history:

(Most) everyone agrees koshari is connected to Indian khichidi. But did you know that its 1st mention in Arabic (afaik) was in the 14th century Riḥla of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa? The famous Tangerine traveler saw a dal & rice dish in India and called it koshari (كشري). (h/t @afzaque!)

When did it journey back to North Africa? We don't know exactly, but @iraqicuisine points out in her translation of a medieval Cairene cookbook (now in paperback! buy it!) that Dawud al-Antaki used "koshari" to describe mung beans in 16th century Cairo.. https://brill.com/view/title/34975

...the very pulse that had been paired with rice in Ibn Baṭṭūṭa's account. Though al-Antaki remarked that they didn’t grow so well in the Middle East. What did? LENTILS. Which are the pulse of choice in today's koshari.

These mentions led me to two historical theories about koshari: 1, that it didn't emerge from one stable recipe, but rather a template that cooks have adjusted as necessary (eg swapping one pulse for another),

and 2, that koshari likely arrived in Egypt by way of the Red Sea long before the British occupation.

Many link koshari's emergence in Egypt w/the British colonial era, but I prefer to tell its history as a narrative of trade & travel corridors that linked North Africa to India via the Red Sea and the Arabian coasts.

The Eater piece has a few choice details that speak to this version of the narrative, from various points along the route of what I like to think of as the khichidi-koshari continuum of the Indian Ocean world!

There’s also plenty from my own fieldwork about the diversity of koshari recipes that Egyptian home cooks shared with me & how Abla Nazira herself addressed the famous street food in her canonical cookbook.

Also included of course is a cooking guide with plenty of tips on how to build a koshari-inspired grain bowl from your pantry and links to recipes for koshari, khichidi, and mujadara for all your rice and lentil needs.

One of my aims was to show why delving into the minute details of a recipe’s history matters. It's a question of intellectual honesty, ofc, but I think it also offers a model for broadening one's culinary repertoire w/o sacrificing historical, practical, or gustatory complexity.

Thanks to everyone who talked w/me about koshari, to @mideastXmidwest for encouragement and @LesleyBS for superb edits. & please share your koshari cooking tips & variations!