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Cooking for virtual travel, starting with a little trip to Egypt through koshari, a combo of rice, lentils and pasta, topped with a tangy tomato sauce and crispy fried onions. It’s hearty and nourishing, with garlicky zing. No sides this time, just pickled peppers and fresh cucumbers.

Shopping list

• brown lentils
• short-grain rice
• garlic
• ground cumin
• salt
• yellow onions
• large (28-oz.) can tomatoes (ideally tomato puree)
• tube pasta (elbow mac, or canneroni, aka kofto if you’re shopping in a Greek store)
• canola oil for frying
• ground/crushed red chile
• vinegar
• pickled peppers (optional, on the side)
• pickled eggplants (optional)
• cucumbers

Egyptian Koshari

As I say in the podcast, this is a real fast-food staple, but it’s also a dish people cook at home. The base is lentils, rice and pasta, topped with tangy tomato sauce and crispy onions. If you want deluxe toppings, you can also add fried vermicelli (gives a nice chewy texture) and/or chickpeas. But honestly, it’s perfectly satisfying this simpler way, and it means fewer pans to wash.

My friend’s mom, who taught me her technique, serves it with pickled peppers and eggplants on the side. In the podcast, I slice up a cucumber too, with salt.

Serves 3-4
1 cup brown lentils
1 cup short-grain rice
5-7 garlic cloves
1 heaping tsp ground cumin
Large pinch salt
2 medium yellow onions
28-oz. can tomatoes (puree, crushed or whole)
2 handfuls tube pasta (elbow mac or shorter cut tubes)
1/2 cup canola oil (approx, for frying)
ground/crushed red chile (to taste, optional)
1 tbsp vinegar (or more, to taste)

Rinse lentils and place them in a heavy saucepan (whatever you ordinarily cook rice in) with 2.5 cups water. Cover and turn heat up to boil, then down to simmer for 5 minutes. Add the rice to the same pot and simmer for another 15 minutes or so. You may have to add a little more water, and if it’s all looking a little too wet near the end, you can leave the lid slightly ajar. If the rice and lentils are done, but everything’s a little sticky, set a clean dish towel over the top of the pot and put the lid on top of that — set aside while everything else is finishing.

Peel garlic and chop or crush in a mortar with salt and cumin. When the rice and lentils are close to done (about 5 minutes out), take a third of this garlic mix and stir it in.

Peel and slice the onions in thin half-rings.

In a large nonreactive saucepan (stainless steel or similar), heat a little glug of the canola oil and add another third of the garlic-cumin combo. Stir briefly, then add the canned tomatoes. If you have whole tomatoes, crush them up with a spoon. Let simmer on medium-low, uncovered. Stir occasionally to check thickness and make sure it’s not sticking.

Set water on to boil for the pasta; salt generously. Add the pasta and cook according to directions, then drain.

In a heavy skillet, heat the remaining canola oil until just shimmering. Add about a third of your sliced onions — a thin layer. Don’t crowd the pan. Stir to keep them moving, and cook until brown on the edges but still a little pale in the center of the slice — they keep cooking after you take them out. Remove with a skimmer and set them on a paper towel to cool. Make sure you get all the bits out before you start the next batch (move the oil off the heat if you have to). Do the remaining onions the same way.

The tomato sauce is done when it has thickened nicely. There should be little holes in the surface. Stir in the last third of the garlic-cumin mix and the vinegar, and bring the heat up to high briefly. There should be little holes in the surface of the sauce — this is how you know it’s the right thickness.

Serve in a big bowl: lentils and rice, then some pasta, then some tomato sauce, and crispy onions on top. Pickled vegetables (and I like raw cucumber) on the side.