Budget recipe: Koshari, an Egyptian street food

Wednesday 13th March, 2013
TEXT AND PICTURES
BY B A MAHIPALA
O
n February 6, early in the
morning before sunrise, with
packed picnic breakfasts from
the Ndutu Safari Lodge, our
driver/guide Wilson was at the wheel
moving towards the Ndutu grass
plains to try our luck, once again, to
seek out a Wildebeest Cow delivering a
calf.
Just pass the Lake Ndutu, driving
uphill towards the grass plains, we
had the sight of a Black-breasted
Snake Eagle on a tree. Moving forward, in the grass plains where the
thousands of wildebeests were grassing, we sighted a few vultures on a carcass of a wildebeest, finishing the left
overs of lions. Later, we moved in
search of our wish for the day. The
number of newly born carves had
increased on the plain, but we were yet
to see a live delivery. After driving for
almost one hour on the plains, we
stopped under a shady tree to have our
picnic breakfast.
We continued our search after
breakfast, when our driver spotted a
pregnant cow with the water bag hanging from the back, followed by two legs
of the calf. The cow was not alone but
with a herd of wildebeest grazing
grass. We followed them, keeping a
distance of at least 50 meters, without
disturbing the cow. Suddenly, she sat
on the ground but got up in a few minutes, and what a sight! Unbelievable, a
calf came out of the womb together
with the placenta. The time of delivery, according to my recorded video
footage, was 09.13 hours. She was lying
down; and was licking the calf and
possibly consuming the birth membrane. The mother tried many times to
get the calf on its legs. It was impor-
Marsh through the woodlands in
Ndutu where we witnessed large herds
of wildebeest converging towards the
Marsh Lake for water. We also noticed
a few vehicles on the opposite side of
the Marsh on an elevated location bordering the woodland. Wilson, our driver, informed us that there is a lion at
the center of the Marsh, hiding in the
bushes, according to information
received through the mobile radio unit
on the jeep. While we tried to cross to
the other side, our jeep got stuck in
mud flats. With the help of another
jeep, we managed to pull the jeep from
the mud. We sighted a lion and a
lioness resting under a tree bordering
the woodlands. But we moved towards
the other vehicles where most of the
cameras with long lenses were pointing towards the grass patch at the cen-
tant that the calf gets up and moves
with the mother within a few minutes.
The calf was up on its legs at 0916
hours, in exactly three minutes! What
next? Of coarse sucking its mother’s
milk. At 0931 hours, the calf had the
first feed from the mother. It was a
male and later moved with the herd.
While these events took place, Lesser
Kestrel, a bird of prey was flying over
us and caught my camera attention.
It looked as if the Wildebeest calving season had begun. According to
statistics, it could be predicted that
within the next six weeks, there would
be 8000 newborns per day, totaling
almost 500,000 calves. But all of them
will not survive. Predators, such as,
lions, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs,
and the pirates of the plain, the hyenas, play an important role in keeping
nature and the ecosystem in balance in
wild Africa.
Since we had more time in the
morning before lunch for game viewing, we proceeded towards the Big
ter of the open field. With the help of a
binocular, I was able to spot the lion on
the grass, waiting for an opportunity
to catch a wildebeest.
In wild life photography one needs
patience. The lion crawled step by step
towards the open passage of the grassland expecting wildebeests to arrive
from the Marsh Lake. It was around
half past noon when we saw the wildebeests moving slowly, while grazing,
towards the predator. The lion watched
for a few seconds the wildebeest movement and suddenly dashed towards its
prey, whereon they ran like bullets in
different directions. What a sad sight!
The lion caught a newly- born calf.
Sometimes, lions enjoy chewing the
soft and tender bones of newly- born
calves.
We were back at the lodge around
1330 hours for lunch and decided to go
to the same location at 1600 hours to
watch the afternoon’s Ndutu drama.
To be continued….
Budget recipe: Koshari, an Egyptian street food
Delicious meals at affordable prices. This week:
koshari , a wholesome and savoury Egyptian food.
By Xanthe Clay
Koshari is an Egyptian street food staple made
of rice, lentils and — bizarrely — macaroni,
topped with crisp onions and spicy tomato sauce.
It’s wholesome, savoury and very cheap. It’s also
about to become cool — when I visited Middle
Eastern food guru Anissa Helou last week, she was
cooking a mouth-wateringly spice-fragrant potful,
the prototype for her “hole in the wall” café opening on St Martin’s Lane in London at the end of
the month (kosharistreet.com).
My version uses less exalted ingredients than
Anissa’s but it’s great none the less. Use cumin
plus whatever spices you have, but try to stick to
whole ones for the crunchy texture they give. The
only exception is cinnamon, where (don’t tell
Anissa) I think a shake of ground will do if you
haven’t got a stick. I have included cup measure-
ments to save time — use a teacup if you don’t
have measuring cups.
2 onions (about 11oz/300g), thinly sliced (27p,
90p/kg)
3 tbsp olive oil (17p, £3.80/l)
2 cloves of garlic (6p, 30p/head)
A tin of chopped tomatoes (31p)
1 tbsp tomato purée (2p, 35p/200g)
Chilli flakes or chilli sauce (5p, say)
1 cup (5oz/150g) lentils, rinsed and drained (39p,
£1.29/500g)
1 cup (7oz/200g) rice, rinsed and drained (8p,
40p/kg)
1 cup (5oz/150g) macaroni, cooked (29p,
95p/500g)
Spices: 2 tsp cumin seed (2p, £1.69/400g) plus 1
tsp mustard seed, 1 tsp coriander seed, 1 tsp mustard seed, 1 stick of cinnamon (if you have it to
hand)
Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onions
Hot and cool street food: koshari is an adaptable
dish that can be augmented with whatever spices
you have to hand.
until deep golden (this may take half an hour or
more). Put a sieve over a bowl and tip the onions
in, so the oil drains into the bowl.
Heat one teaspoonful of the onion oil in a small
pan and crush in a garlic clove. Cook for a few seconds and add the tomatoes, tomato purée, chilli
and a tinful of water. Cook until a thick pouring
consistency.
Put the lentils in a pan and cover generously
with water. Add the other garlic clove, bring to the
boil and cook for 25 minutes or so, until tender.
Drain.
Heat the remaining oil from the onions in a
saucepan and add the spices. Cook for a few seconds until fragrant, then add the rice. Cook, stirring for a minute or so, then add one and a half
cups of water and a fat pinch of salt. Bring to the
boil, cover tightly, and cook for 10 minutes until
cooked through and the water has been absorbed.
Mix the rice with the lentils and macaroni, seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve with the tomato
sauce and the crisp onions.
© The Telegraph Group London 2013