Best Served with rice.

Actually rice is pretty much a given on a daily basis, for the majority -if not all- Egyptian families. The Egyptian rice is highly aromatic and has got a distinctive flavour not to be found in any other rice of any kind. As an Egyptian, very much “into” the foods & aromas of my childhood, I can assure you that I know my rice.

Unfortunately I can not get a hold of Egyptian rice where we live, so I use Basmati instead, and prepare it the Egyptian way.

Because of it being a daily staple, rice dishes present themselves in a variety of ways in the Egyptian cuisine. All depending of course on the dish that it is showing up to compliment.

For Dada’s Zucchini, I will use the rice w/vermicelli & pine nuts. No other reason than “just because” that’s how she served it!

You will find the recipe for the rice listed under what else?! “rice” of course. Anticipating that I shall be posting a variety of rice dishes as we proceed, I decided to give it a category of its own!

Now lets get on with Dada’s Zucchini dish.

A favourite way of cooking vegetables in Egypt is in tomato sauce. Sometimes meat is added in it to give extra flavour, but often without.

Ingredients:

4 large zucchinis (or 6 medium ones) sliced. If too big, cut zucchini in half then slice.

1 onion chopped

1 garlic chopped

140 grs tomato paste (or 4 large tbsps)

2 cups cooked chick peas

2 cups water

1 soup cube

Method:

saute onions in a bit of olive oil

add garlic

add tomato paste

add chick peas

add water

add soup cube

bring to a boil

adjust salt if needed

add sliced zucchini

simmer on medium heat until zucchini is done to your liking.

(you may need to add more water as its cooking, to ensure there is enough sauce in the end.)

Serve in a separate bowl, alongside the vermicelli rice.

Enjoy!