Egyptian Koshari knocks down junk food in Mecca

CAIRO - 4 September 2017: The Egyptian national dish, Koshari, became well known in Mecca upon the opening of a shop called Egyptian Koshari

Koshari is a dish known for its spicy and special delicacy to Egyptians. The yummy dish, with its powerful flavor, excelled and won the junk food race in the holy lands. Koshari became the best-selling dish in Mecca and was desired by different nationalities who could not resist its taste.

This year the holy lands were full of Egyptian spirit. Mecca witnessed the arrival of about 100,000 Egyptian pilgrims performing hajj.

Speaking of Egypt, meters from Haram in Ibrahim Hebron Street is a shop called Egyptian Koshary, which sells the Egyptian dish.

The shop witnessed an unprecedented turnout of pilgrims of different nationalities. Those who tasted the Egyptian dish once came back to eat another dish several times. This turnout caused crowds in front of the shop, and a Koshari dish was sold for SAR 10, which is equal to LE 50.

A number of pilgrims were keen to buy quantities of Zamzam water in plastic bottles and then go buy Koshari. They would drink cold Zamzam water to cool the heat of the hot sauce.

Koshari is an Egyptian dish originally made in the 19th century, comprised of rice, macaroni and lentils mixed together, topped with a spiced tomato sauce, and garlic vinegar; garnished with chickpeas and crispy fried onions.