hello guys welcome back to Run the Atlas. Today we're doing something a little
different as you can see I'm not traveling I'm in my kitchen and that's
because there's a trouble ban happening right now which means there is no travel
happening until... who knows? So I want to encourage responsible travel from you
guys as well be sure to stay home that doesn't mean we can't wanderlust. In fact
there's many times where we're not able to travel. We either are saving up
funding, we have other priorities, or maybe there's a travel ban. I want to
share with you some other ways that I get inspired to travel from the comforts
of home. One of the ways that I like to do that
is by doing an international night where I cook at home one of my favorite dishes
I've tried abroad and I like to take it home and try my own version of it. I also
like to pair it with a movie or a book from that country. So today, the country
of our inspiration is Egypt. Egypt marked my 50th country that I've ever traveled
to it was extremely mysterious spiritual and inspiring and it inspires me to this
day. In fact some of the best Egypt videos are still not live yet, they are
coming up - so stay tuned subscribe down below. Today we're gonna be cooking
koshari which is the national dish of Egypt found everywhere along the streets,
street vendors, the entire streets smell like koshari. This is this delicious rice
dish that is high in protein because it's combined with lentils and it has
rice and pasta this is a very low cost meal as well it's very economical and
it's vegan! So let's go so I have the recipe it's in the description below I
borrowed it from an Egyptian blogger who from Port Said and she recommended to
do it this way. So if you are from Egypt please chime in below and let me know
how this recipe compares with the ones that you make at home. So first of all
you're gonna need parsley which I actually took some shortcuts this is
already chopped. I have salt and pepper. I also have lentils this is one of the
main staples of this dish. Rice. Onion. Some seasoning. Organic extra virgin
olive oil. Pasta. It's made of semolina wheat which is very high in protein. And
then we have garbanzo beans. Some fresh tomato sauce this was purchased at a
local Italian gourmet shop I'm trying to support some of my local businesses and
I hope you are too. But if you want to purchase from Amazon Prime I'm going to
link everything in the description down below so you do not have to go out to
the stores. So like I said, this is vegan this is also high in nutrients it's got
about 8 grams of fiber per serving and about 10 grams of protein per serving
which is really great. Did I mention that this is dinner in a
movie so I'm watching "The Spy Who Loved Me" which is a James Bond film that was
set in Egypt. Let's get cooking. So I'm gonna start with chopping the onion this
goes on top of the dish has a crispy topping and it also goes in the tomato
sauce all right so I have a hot pan here I'm going to turn this on and we are
going to fry these onions now while that is sizzling I'm going to make a drink
that I tried in Egypt called hibiscus tea herbal tea and it's really delicious
you can buy it in a link in the description below and what's
great is that it's caffeine free and basically you just need a tea bag and
some sugar
so our recipe calls for one part lentils which is about a cup and a half in one
part rice and as you can see I went the easy route pre-made if you can buy rice
uncooked dried I bought these from a local Italian market but you can of
course buy them pre-made in Egypt when I tried the hibiscus tea it was very sweet
so I'm gonna put some raw unfiltered honey inside I keep this in the fridge
by the way so the bees don't get it it smells so good in here these onions are
just about ready to go so I'm just gonna drain them a little bit dry now in that
same pan over much lower heat we're gonna cook the rest of the onions and
mix it together with some of our spices and tomatoes
alright I'll try this drink Cheers!
hmm so good very refreshing very flowery.
Checking in on our movie. We're actually at the scene so this is the Karnak
temple in luxor and it is mammoth. There are so many beautiful columns and if you
want to watch our vlog link at the top here. So in these bowls I'm going to put
garbanzo beans the lentils
now these garbanzo beans I got from Whole Foods and the reason why I like
them is there is nothing else in here except for the garbanzo beans and water
so all this is happening I have the onions become translucent here and then
I have a giant pot where I will be cooking the and I like to flavor in the
pasta water just a tad so I'm adding a little bit now for this race maybe you
guys won't be using a rice cooker ever again see how easy it is if seamless so
literally take this pouch and I might believe it for three minutes so this is
ready for the pasta sauce now and this is
now into this mixture is going to go a little bit of red pepper these red
peppers are optional so I like things spicy
and I'm gonna do this and my goal is to make this al dente which means not quite
full cooked. Everything is simmering, time for a tea break. I miss Egypt! So the
tomato sauce is simmering nicely alright it is time for a little taste test. Done!
So now we have everything all lined up we have the rice, the lentils
garbanzo beans, tomato sauce, the pasta. We are going to assemble this. Let's go.
There's a presentation on this it's kind of like a layered presentation my first
try best dish when I was on the Nile river cruise and they had a buffet and
they would have some american dishes and they would have a few dishes of egyptian
cuisine and I saw this fragrant rice dish and it looked so good it looked
like something I would make at home and now I have I tried it and it was so
savory and so delicious and I found out that it was the national dish of Egypt
I think baklava should also be the national dish but a little bit harder to
make. We may have a surprise at the end of this video. I want to know what is
your favorite dish that you tried abroad what is your favorite recipe that you've
tried from another country tell me about it below I love to hear about it food is
one of my favorite parts of traveling there's nothing like breaking bread with
someone from another country it really helps you share and get insights into
their culture what I like about Egyptian food is that can taste the flavors of
the Mediterranean because in Egypt there were people from
Greece who came there the Romans came there back to our dish top it off with
you're supposed to top it off with coriander I don't have grandeur but I
have parsley so parsley goes on top last but not least our toasted onions go on
top they're so crispy so delicious our international night has begun officially
we have the finished product here I have the movie The Spy Who Loved Me set in
Egypt I have my bisque is tea which I got done in between ice to drink now it
is so well balanced the perfect mixture of beans to rice and the onion really
gives it a very savory flavor as well it really takes me back to smell those
amazing magic moments on that trip just I couldn't believe what I was seeing
when I was growing up my babysitter was Egyptian and before I met her I my
concept of Egypt was that it was this fantasy world it must have been some
surreal universe or something just learning about the pyramids and the
mummies and their whole way of life their religion and when I finally met
someone who was from there I realized it's a real place and
from Cairo and it's a real modern city it's a city of a lot of contrasts
nothing compares to you when you first see the pyramids it just takes your
breath away they are huge and to think that they will built 5,000 years ago
there's nothing like actually getting this food in Egypt so how are you guys
Wonder lusting from home do you do an international night like this do you
look at old photos do you make playlist from some of the countries that you've
been to there's many different ways of really feeling and putting yourself in
the state of mind of that country no I did say I have a little big surprise and
that surprises no Egyptian night is complete without this delicious baklava
this was purchased here from a local Middle Eastern restaurant oh my goodness
this is something that I just love it's one of my favorite desserts what are the
cities like where you guys live right now is it a ghost town I know where I
live it is completely dead there's nobody outside so it's the perfect time
to just spend some time indoors cook plan your next trip and I also want to
know when really good is gonna be headed after this whole corona thing is done
what's gonna be the first trip all right so I'm gonna cut the baklava
do you know when I went to Egypt we went to a restaurant at our hotel that must
have had at least 10 different kinds of baklava chocolate baklava different
shapes different textures some of the fillo dough was rolled some was stacked
oh my gosh I was in heaven they even had a dish called kunafa I don't know I'm
pronouncing it right but it has the phyllo dough more stringy and more like
a cheesy kind of consistency at the inside good on that note cheers
everybody stay safe! stay healthy! stay positive! For
getting through this together next Tuesday I'm going to release
another video it's going to be about the Egyptian gods and goddesses I love
learning about Egypt's religion and history so I'm going to talk about some
of the ones that I experienced in saw firsthand well I didn't see them but I
saw them on the walls and stuff of the temples so I'm gonna release that and
then when travel is back up and swinging we will release the Egyptian pyramid
video
it's got to be one of the most magnificent things like my fancy like
and subscribe if you want more content like this please tell me down below
maybe we can make some different dishes and be sure to catch us next travel
Tuesday!