المطبخ المصري · From the Nile to the Table

Egyptian Cooking Without Vegetable Oil

Step into a kitchen built on samna and butter, where fava beans simmer low for hours, flatbread puffs over an open flame, and every grape leaf is rolled by hand. This is the food of the Delta and the old Cairo alleys, cooked the way it has always been, with nothing refined anywhere near the pan.

Explore the Recipes
Samna✦ Zibda✦ Zait Zaitun
A hearty spiced Egyptian meat dish plated on a warm table
✦ Kofta Mashwiya
See the full recipe below
سمن بلدي

Samna Before Anything Else

Clarified butter is the first thing that goes into the pot in an Egyptian kitchen. Every stew, grain, and grill in this collection starts with samna or sweet butter, never with a jug of refined seed oil.

نار هادئة

Patience Over the Flame

Fava beans are not rushed and neither is a pot of stuffed leaves. We let the fire stay low and let the hours do the work, the way home cooks along the Nile always have.

زيت زيتون

Never Vegetable Oil

Where a dish calls for oil at all, it is olive oil and nothing else. No seed oils, no shortcuts, only the fats that have always stood on this table.

✦
From Our Kitchen

Egyptian Recipes

Six dishes drawn from home tables across Cairo and the Delta, each one cooked with samna, butter, or olive oil and nothing that came from a seed press.

Morning Table Ful medames, a warm fava bean stew finished with ghee and lemon

Ful Medames

Fava beans slow simmered in ghee

1 hr 45 min·4 servings·Easy

The dish that opens the Egyptian day. Dried fava beans simmer until they collapse into themselves, then meet a spoonful of garlic warmed in samna, bright lemon, and a swirl of tahini.

Ingredients

  • 400 g dried fava beans (ful), soaked overnight
  • 4 tbsp ghee (samna baladi)
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 1 small tomato, finely diced
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • Fresh parsley, chopped
  • Salt and black pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. Drain the soaked fava beans and place them in a heavy pot with fresh water to cover by several inches.
  2. Bring to a gentle boil, skim any foam, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour until the beans turn completely soft and start to break down.
  3. Melt the ghee in a small pan and warm the garlic and cumin in it for about a minute until fragrant, taking care not to let the garlic brown.
  4. Drain the beans, reserving a little of the cooking liquid, and mash them coarsely with a wooden spoon, loosening with a splash of the reserved liquid.
  5. Stir the garlic ghee, lemon juice, and tahini into the beans and season generously with salt and pepper.
  6. Spoon into shallow bowls, scatter over the tomato, onion, and parsley, and finish with a final drizzle of ghee.
  7. Serve immediately with warm baladi bread for scooping.
Grill Night Grilled kofta skewers glazed with warm ghee

Kofta Mashwiya

Grilled beef and lamb skewers

1 hr 30 min·4 servings·Medium

Hand shaped skewers of spiced ground beef and lamb, grilled over open embers and brushed with warm ghee, the smoky centerpiece of any Egyptian grill night.

Ingredients

  • 500 g ground beef (20% fat)
  • 250 g ground lamb
  • 1 small onion, grated and squeezed dry
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp allspice
  • 3 tbsp melted ghee, for basting, plus salt and black pepper

Instructions

  1. Combine the beef, lamb, onion, garlic, parsley, and all the spices in a large bowl and knead firmly with your hands for several minutes until the mixture turns pasty and holds together.
  2. Cover and rest the mixture in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour so the flavors settle.
  3. Divide into portions and mold each one firmly around a flat metal skewer into a long, narrow log.
  4. Light a charcoal or wood fire and let it burn down to glowing embers with no open flame.
  5. Grill the kofta directly over the embers, turning every couple of minutes and brushing with melted ghee, for about 10 to 12 minutes until charred outside and just cooked through.
  6. Rest the skewers briefly off the heat.
  7. Serve hot off the skewer with flatbread, grilled tomato, and a squeeze of lemon.
Everyday Side A pot of golden Egyptian rice with toasted vermicelli

Ruz bil Sha'riya

Toasted vermicelli rice in butter

35 min·6 servings·Easy

Fluffy long grain rice studded with vermicelli toasted to a deep amber in butter, the everyday side that no Egyptian household ever seems to run out of.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups long grain rice, rinsed
  • 60 g broken vermicelli noodles
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp ghee
  • 3 cups hot chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cardamom (optional)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Water, for rinsing the rice

Instructions

  1. Rinse the rice in several changes of water until it runs mostly clear, then drain well.
  2. Melt the butter and ghee together in a heavy pot over medium heat and add the vermicelli.
  3. Stir constantly for 2 to 3 minutes until the vermicelli turns a deep golden brown, watching closely so it does not burn.
  4. Add the drained rice and stir for a minute to coat every grain in the browned butter.
  5. Pour in the hot stock, add the salt, cardamom, and bay leaf, and bring to a boil.
  6. Cover tightly, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, and cook undisturbed for 15 to 18 minutes.
  7. Remove from the heat, let it rest covered for 10 minutes, then fluff gently with a fork before serving.
Family Kitchen Stuffed grape leaves rolled and simmered in olive oil and lemon

Mahshi Waraq Enab

Rice and herb stuffed grape leaves

1 hr 30 min·6 servings·Medium

Tender grape leaves rolled tightly around rice, herbs, and warm spice, then simmered slowly in olive oil and lemon until the filling turns fragrant and the leaves nearly melt.

Ingredients

  • 40 to 50 grape leaves, fresh or jarred, stems removed
  • 1 1/2 cups short grain rice, rinsed
  • 1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 bunch dill, finely chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, finely diced
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 1/2 cup olive oil, divided
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground allspice
  • Juice of 2 lemons, plus salt and black pepper

Instructions

  1. If using fresh grape leaves, blanch them briefly in boiling water until pliable; drain jarred leaves and rinse well.
  2. Mix the rice, parsley, dill, tomatoes, onion, half the olive oil, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
  3. Lay each leaf shiny side down, place a small spoon of filling near the stem end, fold in the sides, and roll into a snug cylinder.
  4. Line the base of a wide pot with any torn or spare leaves and arrange the rolls tightly in circular layers.
  5. Pour over the remaining olive oil, the lemon juice, and enough water to just cover the rolls, then weigh them down with a small heatproof plate.
  6. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook gently for 45 to 50 minutes until the rice is tender and the leaves are soft.
  7. Rest for 10 minutes before lifting out and serving warm or at room temperature.
Baladi Oven Warm baladi flatbread served beside a spiced ghee dip

Aish Baladi with Samna Dip

Puffed flatbread with a warm ghee dip

2 hr 15 min·6 servings·Medium

Puffed whole wheat baladi bread, torn warm and dragged through a golden dip of clarified butter, toasted cumin, and dukkah. An Egyptian table's simplest pleasure.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup bread flour
  • 2 tsp instant yeast
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • Bran or semolina, for dusting
  • 6 tbsp ghee (samna baladi), for the dip
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tbsp dukkah (nut and spice blend)
  • A pinch of salt, for the dip

Instructions

  1. Mix the flours, yeast, and salt, then work in the warm water until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms.
  2. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, then cover and let rise for 1 hour until doubled.
  3. Divide into 6 balls, roll each into a disk about 1 cm thick, dust with bran, and rest 20 minutes.
  4. Heat a heavy skillet or baking stone as hot as it will go and bake each disk for 2 to 3 minutes per side until it puffs into a dome and browns in spots.
  5. Wrap the breads in a cloth to keep them soft while you make the dip.
  6. Warm the ghee gently in a small pan, stir in the cumin and a pinch of salt, and let it infuse for a minute without browning.
  7. Pour the warm ghee into a shallow dish, scatter the dukkah over the top, and serve with the warm bread for tearing and dipping.
Sweet Finish Golden basbousa semolina cake soaked in honey syrup

Basbousa bil Asal

Semolina cake soaked in honey

1 hr 10 min·10 servings·Easy

A golden semolina cake enriched with ghee and yogurt, baked until the edges turn crisp, then soaked while still hot in a warm honey syrup scented with rosewater.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups fine semolina
  • 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup ghee, melted, plus extra for the pan
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Blanched almonds, for topping
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 1 tbsp rosewater

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and generously grease a baking dish with ghee.
  2. Whisk the semolina, coconut, sugar, and baking powder together in a large bowl.
  3. Stir in the melted ghee, yogurt, and vanilla until you have a thick, even batter.
  4. Spread the batter into the prepared dish, smooth the top, score it into diamonds, and press an almond into the center of each.
  5. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top turns deep golden and firm to the touch.
  6. While the cake bakes, warm the honey with a splash of water and the rosewater in a small pan until loosened, without letting it boil hard.
  7. Pour the warm honey syrup evenly over the hot cake the moment it leaves the oven, then let it rest at least 20 minutes so the syrup soaks in fully before serving.
A warm home table set for a family meal
Our Kitchen

The Kitchen Behind Medinh

Medinh is a small kitchen devoted to the everyday cooking of Egypt, the long simmered pots of fava beans, the smoke of a kofta grill, and the puffed baladi bread that rarely makes it whole to the table before someone tears a piece off. We write these recipes the way they are actually cooked at home, unhurried, generous with warmth, and honest about what goes into the pan.

Our only house rule is a simple one. Samna and butter for richness, olive oil where a dish calls for it, and never a drop of refined vegetable or seed oil. It is how the dishes in this collection have always tasted, and we see no reason to change that now.

بيتي بيتك, my home is your home, so pull up a chair.