INSANE EGYPTIAN Street Food 🇪🇬

all right we have made it to egypt this place i've dreamed about the place that you always read in your history books and you know about but you don't really feel like it's there until you get here today what we're doing was meeting up with my friends at bellies and root i mean they are big time when it comes to street food here in cairo they've been on major networks and everything we're gonna meet one of my best friends right now mia hey hi how are you good how are you today i'm good are you ready to eat of course so i do all right okay so we are going to be trying just a very wide range of classic egyptian food staples we're going to give you like a really really in-depth introduction on kind of like what makes egyptian cuisine special and we're going to start off by trying the egyptian national dish all right let's do it let's get started [Music] nice to meet you mohammad oh it's dark let's turn let's turn nice to meet you muhammad very good [Music] [Music] sausages so we're first starting off with the natural dish of egypt grocery i mean this is a carb loaded dish you get rice you get pasta you're going to get like fried shallots meat and a couple sauces on top and mohammed [Music] yes oh it's ready already thank you my brother all right i'm gonna actually eat you know you do this every day and you're just like but how could you how could you pass up the national dish of egypt well yeah i love kosher kosher is basically like a medley of a lot of different carbohydrates and i know it's going to sound really weird but trust me all of the ingredients go together really really well so there's like rice vermicelli spaghetti macaroni and then we have some lentils chickpeas and fried onions how we usually eat this is we add like a very generous amount of egyptian tomato sauce now i know this looks like a marinara but it isn't mostly because of just how we season it it's different so there isn't any like basil in there it's mostly like allspice maybe a little bit of cumin some cardamom and then the most fun part is this so this is called the uh is a sauce that's made by boiling white vinegar with lots and lots and lots of garlic and i know in the us when you say lots of garlic it's like two three cloves but in egyptian we mean like you know ten i am also a hobo person so i can relate there's no cloves in here yeah one one bulb for one clove is how i follow the recipe exactly there and then you just add like a nice generous amount on top and then you mix it together kind of you know take a little bit um too thoroughly very very [Music] so you gotta get the right technique down i'm gonna i gotta actually swirl like yeah oh there we go well you can do nothing here but go in for a big bite right away [Music] that's the expected for me right there that fried onion the tomato sauce you get that tomato fruitiness the acid but she's right you don't get the basil but instead you'll get some cumin you'll get some allspice and then all the textures it's carbohydrate loaded but i like the difference in carbohydrates because it's just a textural overload wow there's a fatty protein sensation in there but you gotta work past all the spices they've packed into that as a heavily spiced sausage that's delicious you got the heat it just kind of settles on the back of your mouth right at the end it's like the perfect little wake up actually best bite is when you get that garlic vinegar the vinegar is not as strong as you would think but really just as infused that garlic and coats everything i can already feel the garlic breath developing after just two bites this is a vinegar and um like lime not lime we don't really do limes we have like egyptian lemons so there's vinegar egyptian lemon in there a bit of salt a bit of chili and lots of like fresh herbs and this is a salad water shot or on the street we call it a whiskey shot i see all the dill on top wow cheers so i can take it in one in one shop but i don't know i will not do half just to assess [Music] oh it's very mild little acid i love egyptians love for acid [Music] and this place here like even though they only sell breakfast foods but you know in true egyptian fashion you can pretty much eat whatever you want anytime you want but also because it's cheap [Music] so next spot we're at is a very special restaurant they're only going to do the falafel and the food now they're both made from fava bean that's what's very unique about egypt is their falafels go made from a fava bean and their food mixture which we're going to have to get into later is a lot we can talk about it it's from fava beans as well [Music] [Music] the the fava bean hearts look like all right if you want to take like uh take a look so these are the peeled and crushed coffee okay and they get thrown in this with parsley coriander um maybe like a little bit of dill leeks uh fennel onion garlic pretty much any green thing you have lying around you throw it in now over here okay you see this little pot uh is this what they cook the corn man yeah yeah this is very traditional right it is okay this is called the mesa or an idra okay and the shape is shaped like that because it traps the steam in as well so the beans are not just boiled but they're also steamed at the same time and it's like a very unique way of cooking they're poured in here with fresh water and they're cooked for about nine to ten hours on a very low heat and they become just so so so so soft and easy to kind of like mesh [Music] [Music] and you see when he's back he's giving it one last little dip to get that little coating see parsley dill coriander seeds you see some fennel sesame seeds it's dependent on shop everybody can do it differently you can just do sesame seeds you can just do certain things or mix and match and this man has cranked out a few falafels did you see that that technique of pushing him down with that rack and now he's making a different shaped ones and just cranking them out and what y'all didn't see what the key right away is he changed the oil he did the fries he pulled that oil out he got a fresh batch heat it up and then the falafels go in i mean it's just that little attention to detail [Music] [Music] [Music] you heard that you turned the heat off now he's just going through kind of hand picking them getting it to the customer's preference whether they want softer or crunchier [Music] all right do you mind if i touch your no of course okay all right we're all family so this is these are the beans see how soft and like glistening they are from like the oil and then my favorite i asked them to add some french fries as well because like why not and you see like the chili stuffed in there so we've got like some tahini some home style fries and then the falafel or the tomato with the stuffed chili peppers i mean the closest thing i could think i could compare to having this would be like a bean and cheese burrito but this looks just so wholesome so hearty in the aish which just translates to life but it's the egyptian bread i mean there's so much history here with egypt in their bread so you know this is going to be perfected oh my god oh that is the definition of simply delicious the way those fava beans have just cooked down to ultra soft creaminess they just explode in your mouth got a little bit of oil in them but then the perfect amount of salt balance and then the tahina wow one thing you wouldn't think about as i get it all over my face is the contrast and texture from that whole wheat red and that full coming together wow and the best for last wow this just looks like a money by 101 the falafel you see that chili paste they put in it that red all up in there potatoes the tahina [Music] that is pure joy there's so much going on with that crunchy falafel again that texture you see it in there mixing the way it's almost like a pesto mortar creates a unique texture on the falafel immense amount of parsley and spices now pure chili paste i bit right into it egyptians can do fried potatoes mend them french fries at one point there's no way this would be good unless it's coming hot off the fryer i mean everything's warm in here everything's fresh literally why it's so good and that's why we love it here small batches that's all they do i could eat about 50 of these i'm just going to have one of these for the whole tour and the rest time in egypt just walk with one arabic coffee is not something that you can easily find in a lot of like coffee shops or restaurants and this is the reason why we're having it here specifically why is arabic coffee hard to find because it's not it's not something that is part of our grand tradition it's something that was introduced into egypt kind of like later on this place has been here since 1925 and it used to be owned by a greek family and because of course like downtown was modeled after paris and it was kind of like you know created to be a modern metropolitan part of the city we had a lot of expats and a lot of immigrants greeks italians we have a very large armenian diaspora that lived here and they owned businesses so greek family used to own this thing [Music] i mean people have been running in and out i feel bad kind of taking up this space right here you can see they got their beans stored they got their roaster here they're weighing it they're grinding it they're bagging it they're giving it to you i mean this is start to finish product here green coffee the coffee that we're going to be having is actually made from these beans now coffee beans are green like we know that right so they're very very lightly toasted okay and then they're ground with the cardamom it's like a medium roast with cardamom do you want to smell it oh wow cardamom is very very powering in the coffee like it's it's not like any coffee aroma you've probably smelled before unless you've had the cardamom in it like this [Music] okay got my coffee it actually looks like tea [Music] big kick of sugar at the beginning the green coffee bean it's it's the first time for me i'm telling you this is if you wouldn't have told me what it was i would have drank this a bike not coffee closer to tea [Music] it's hard to explain it really is hard to explain it's like nothing you'll drink before perhaps [Music] wow what a place i mean you see the wear the tear you feel the history walk in here i mean this is just you come you get some home cooked food how long has it been here for this place has been open since the 17th 70s so it's been here since the 70s and there is no way for us to know what the menu is we do know that there will always be amazing rotisserie chicken in that amazing roaster we do know there will always be rice with vermicelli but in terms of like the vegetable stews you have no idea i like that i'm guessing just taking things very seasonally taking what looks good in the market going to the market every day those these are the best restaurants gives that chef that creativity that's going to give you the best meal [Music] she knows you pretty well and i blinked and it was all out here so we've got the spinach which i told you like i'm not a fan of spinach i love the spinach here i love it so much that i sometimes have him pack some to go for me like i literally have some in my freezer right now and then we have some sound we have some white beans and then over there we've got some peas and carrots and we always cook peas with carrots like when we make like the pea pea stew or like the the stewing of the vegetables peas always go with carrots so i'm just going to take a piece and i'm going to leave it over here for you so we like to do something called the cat's ear so you fold your bread into like a little you know it looks like a little cat and then you use it as a spoon so you kind of like scoop your food up and hurry get messy with your food i mean bread is life in egypt so i don't know why i wouldn't just start with some bread tear off a little bit here i thought we already were but okay apparently now it's official official fish [Music] probably a big big bite but when she talks about that much how could she not go for a big bite man that that tomato profile flavor cooked down in a long time with the spinach the texture from the celery see a little carrot in there wow that is so loving so nutritious so rich and we don't usually just boil the rice like we we add ghee you know is that where you got the chicken stock as well some some people add bouillon or like chicken stock in oh wow look at that skin that crisp oil hanging off this looks like rotisserie chicken 101 wow [Music] i'm not eating an egyptian home ever but if i had to imagine one it would taste like this to have so much flavor and again i've gone back to this so much you're going to get tired of hearing me saying it but the nutritional value in these dishes you just feel the strength and the nutrition nourishing you [Music] know they oh now you know the falafel sandwich also delicious but this is something i was craving wow just uh the the love you could taste in that meal is nutritious is just like a big o warm hug [Music] and she's the one who started this yes now her grandson runs the place when did she start here so this place was like she started it off in like maybe 1953. you're gonna find it probably on every egyptian knows about this place probably like every foreigner that comes here also knows about this place and this isn't just like a touristy restaurant it's a restaurant where pretty much everyone likes to come whoa you kind of feel like you're walking into like an enchanted forest in here really i feel like i'm in some fantasy enchanted forest [Music] look up can you hear the birds really really nice egyptian cheeses but unfortunately they don't get it's like tart and sweet at the same time whoa very tart once i say that it tastes like cranberry juice i don't know i've never had cranberries i could see it but [Music] this dish is also made with fava beans this this is called besora so basara is made by mixing the cooked beans with parsley coriander onion garlic and also there's mint in there and then they're topped off with very nice crispy fried onions this is or baba ganoush as a lot of people call it but we call it boba gang and then over here we have some fried eggplants because like why not and more falafel different shapes wow things keep coming i keep trying to no more i keep trying to make one dish and they keep bringing more and more stuff that intrigues me and they got to know i have ooh shiny syndrome here it's very hard for me so i'm just going to build a little pocket with the bread and get some of the fried eggplant in there the falafel and then baba canoe oh i know you don't you don't have to you don't have to tell me twice to get that extra baba in there eggplant is so underrated i don't know if it is but i'm gonna say it is because it is that good [Music] falafel the double eggplant here the fried but then the bob ganoush is really maybe because i put so much of it is a predominant factor in there garlicky just a bit of acid the creaminess in it like that creaminess factor is on another level then you get the crunch from the falafel put in buladi bread i can't not [Music] it's got a little more of a mushy paste to it but it looks like the falafel mixture before they fried it it really does but i see it on the table we got something that i've been wanting to try even before i came to egypt this is one dish i was so curious about so this is molokai so kosher is the national dish molokai is the queen of the kitchen there are a few people out there that don't like this we don't talk to them so what is a weed looks like a very generic leaf um they're called jute leaves or juice mallow okay so do they kind of erupt you do they also call them like egyptian spinach sometimes yes so how is this dish made this is a broth-based dish so it's made with either chicken broth beef broth vegetable broth if you want in some seafood restaurants they'll even add like bits of shrimp in there so the broth needs to be flavorful so if you have good broth you're going to have really really good we use molokai as a way to measure people's ability to cook because it's such a hands-on dish you know so whenever like uh if a mother-in-law is visiting like her daughter-in-law if they're visiting the home of like the woman that her son wants to marry usually there has to be molokai on the table and if it's good moloke then it's a great marriage if it's not good then it's a bad marriage so what did you learn about molokai to eat it you have to have lots of ghee animal flavoring lots of garlic and coriander how could it be bad i was looking at that texture that's crazy it looks like you cooked some gumbo and had a lot of ochre in it you can see the mince melokea in there i'm butchering it every time i'm just gonna eat oh yeah that does slide down you gotta be careful slides down real fast you may not even get a chance to taste it coat your mouth that ghee salty garlic coriander flavor coming through but i feel like the actual [Music] flavor yeah it doesn't have much of a flavor i i feel like it could be placebo effect but you see this deep dark rich green thing and you kind of feel like you're getting that that iron that chlorophyll that is that nutrition but iron and vitamin c it's very nutritious it's a very nutritious like plant right but other than that it is the ghee it is the salt it is the garlic in the coriander again the only way you would not like this was the texture but me having grown up on okra we're all good [Music] winner for me has to be the molokia [Music] we're going to test how exotic i like to eat we're here for a stop to get the fried cow's brain something may sound exotic but i like liver brain they're just another protein source they're nothing exotic it's not opal it's not something westerners are made to be very exotic it's just part of the culture part of the daily diet [Music] what's the toothpick for so that you can pick the brain out of it okay so we've got like the fried cow cow brain there's tahini on there and then we've got like some pickled um cucumbers and then the pickled eggplant i think he heard you or he saw you pointing at it oh there you go [Music] as much brain as i've eaten in my life that's actually the first time i've had it fried and i don't know why more people don't fry cow brain because the inside is just like pate it's going to melt in your mouth it's got a strong beef flavor it's just again the textures here so much creamy texture in egyptian food and that crunch on the outside from the breading [Music] it's just like a chicken nugget it's actually creamier and better i like the flavor more it is but it's just as creamy as that baba can do something that melts in your mouth you get to fold it up with some of the best palate cleansers ever salty [Music] a little bit of heat and sour fried eggplant it doesn't get better than that also yours yes oh this is money bite right here i can't tell you if this is spicy or not it might be [Music] perfect like two steps later we're going for dessert cow's brain into dessert and konefa is a very popular middle eastern dessert but like every country kind of has their own twist on it our twist is that we stuff it with custard cream and not cheese [Music] so you see this for instance like if you're visiting someone for the first time if you're or if someone is like you know if you're going over to someone's house for like dinner lunch it's customary or you know common for you to bring like an assortment and they're usually like packed like this or different packaging depending on like the shop you're in that's what i love about this part of the world is they take their sweets seriously like it is sweets are also life you've got like small samples so that you can try as much as possible at the same time okay so this is the konefa i was telling you about there it is this is this is my piece okay this is something so good you got to have your own piece this is mine you can't have this i'm just gonna go ahead one bite cheers is a semolina flour cake so it's made with semolina flour lots of ghee a little bit of honey it's baked um and then of course soaked in tons of sugar syrup sometimes they also add nuts all the late lady eyelashes i have no idea why they're called that and this is like a very crumbly cookie are you ready for your sugar cone i was about to say you you took the words right out of my mouth i just got done with that person i said it's not too sweet you're like this one's covered in sugar this one's drenched in sugar this one is soaked in sugar everything here is soaked in sugar oh my gosh let's start out with the semolina flour one yeah you don't want any more no i'm good oh my wow a little bit of that goes a long way i really like the sim of leno flower though because it's kind of got this graininess this grittiness i know that doesn't sound appealing but it's almost like the sugar crystals are falling apart in your mouth and then it touches your tongue and just dissolves but busa is the sweetest one of them wow because it doesn't just have sugar syrup but sometimes people also add honey to the mixture before it gets baked this needs more flavor yeah sugar flavor and this is the lady eyelash eyelash oh this is like a popular one this is like a fan favorite you know actually it's kind of like in the west you have like the dough for a chocolate chip cookie it feels a little under baked yes this has a similar very similar baklava a one goer all of these are like you're taking tiny bites we usually just pop all of these in our mouth i'll go back i'm just trying to cherish it these are called this is like half a ladyfinger okay again it's like a deep fried like cookie this is one of my favorites as well okay i'll take your advice oh man what is that like it's not like shortbread it's not but it like it's similar to it but it's not exactly it's more compact and then oh can we see me here i'll tell y'all what got me a little bit sugar high now [Music] just in time for sunset in cairo which is got the golden aura it's a beautiful sunset all right [Music] so this is just a basic like logger as you can see there are lots of bubbles there's lots of gas in this building 1897 and egypt you said was the first place that invented beer ancient egyptians did invent beer with all due respect to all other you know beer enthusiasts that is the truth the stella egyptian staple in 1897 they've had plenty years of practice to get it perfected i don't know if it's a beer i don't know if it's a sunset i don't know if it's because i've had a good day of eating or what but that hits the spot and we don't usually drink it from a glass so that's why a lot of times when you go to bars they're not going to serve you a glass because we just drink it together i did it for the video y'all [Music] all right sunset is done that's gonna wrap the tour up thank you so much to mia right here you're welcome it was really nice showing you around yes egyptian food expert knowledge of everything thank you guys i learned a lot hope y'all did hope you'll have fun that's it for day one we will be meeting up with bellies and root again in two days two days but where in heliopolis which is yeah it's a residential uh district a little bit off the beaten path i know we're gonna be trying some really interesting egyptian foods with a modern twist all right looking forward to it hope you enjoyed it catch you next one peace

Channel: Daily Max

Views: 100,762

Keywords: egypt, cairo, egypt vlog

Id: zO4gOAwNgHs

Length: 33min 26sec (2006 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 05 2022