... Breakfast to go ...

How many times have you heard that “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day?”. In Egypt, breakfast is indeed not to be taken lightly. You won’t usually find many Egyptians simply throwing some cereal in a bowl, adding milk and wolfing it down. Nor eating a quick yoghurt and piece of fruit.

MAIN ITEMS:

Breakfast is a glorious meal, if you eat the traditional breakfast of:

* Fuul (beans)

* Falafel

* Eggs

* Bread

* Salad.

Now some people prefer to cook and prepare there own at home, but many will simply pop out to the nearest breakfast cart and get a quick breakfast to go, and walk briskly back to their own house to eat it with their family.

WHO COMES TO BUY:

It is usually the men who will come out to the street to these glorious breakfast carts. Some will come still in their pyjamas, some will arrive in their cars on the way to work, some will come with their own bowls, some will simply stand at the food cart and eat there. People will usually have their favorite breakfast cart, and indeed some people will travel to another neighborhood just to get their favorite breakfast.

WHAT IS ON A BREAKFAST CART?

These carts are usually odd wooden carts, that have been brightly painted. They have large wheels and look very cheerful! They can be attached to a horse, pushed, or even connected to a bicycle to be moved around. 

Around one side of the cart is usually a small shelf, shoulder height, where you can stand and eat, chatting to your fellow cart-restaurant diners!

On the opposite side is usually the dishing up side: where there is usually a large, silver, small necked pot, in which the fuul (beans) has been simmering for hours. This can be dished up in a small plastic bag, or put in a sandwich, poured into a personal bowl (if you are taking it home) or dished up onto a plate if you are eating at the cart.

There are usually some boiled eggs, falafel ready made, bread and some mixed salad. Oil, salt, spices and chilly can be added to taste.

QUALITY FOOD AND VALUE FOR MONEY:

Many visitors are frightened at the idea of “street food”. And indeed some have better cleanliness standards than others. But ask a few local people where is the best breakfast cart, and they can show you!

Then pop across one morning, for the quickest, freshest, cheapest and filling breakfast I think you will ever have had!!

... the thick, sweet Winter Drink ...

Egyptians are very particular about their drinks! There are many and varied in:

• colour
• ingredients
• look
• texture and 
• temperature.

One of the rather more interesting drinks is called:

SAHLAB.

This is the official Winter Drink of Egypt! It will produce a frown and a gasp of horror if you ask for it when winter is over. Guests have described it as a “hot dessert in a glass”! And indeed it is: a sweet, hot, creamy tea!

INGREDIENTS:

In many a previous era, Sahlab was drunk before tea and coffee were the order of the day. In those times, Sahlab was made (apparently) from the powder by drying and crushing the tuberous root of a wild, white orchid: the orchis mascula. In Ottoman days it is said to have been drunk as an aphrodisiac, as well as being thought to be very nutritious for invalids, and medicinal for gastric irritation. 

In more recent days, this lovely wild orchid is becoming more and more rare, and more expensive to buy, so tastes have become more simplified, more instant.

MODERN SAHLAB:

The new recipe for Sahlab replaces the wild orchid powder with corn-starch and milk. Some people like to add rose-water, to give a floral hint. But this thick milky drink then has many other things added to it, depending on the taste of the drinker:

• coconut
• raisins
• sugar
• nuts (usually pistachio)
• sesame seeds 

Nowadays you can get this all in a pre-packed package, only needing to add water or milk, and perhaps an extra topping or 2! Or you can buy the ready made powder in a local souq (market) from a large bag, measuring out the quantity you want.

DRINK OR CHEW?

With the thick consistency of this sweet milky drink, with nuts and coconut on the top, the biggest dilemma is whether to drink it or eat it! All we recommend is that you have one: take a sip, but have a spoon nearby to scoop out all the goodness within your glass.

But be warned: this is like a meal in itself….. not to be drunk flippantly or with a meal: it is a meal on its own: warm, sweet and very yummy! 

On a cold day in Egypt….

it is just the thing.