AI-generated image
Hawawshi
Hawawshi: Cairo's baked bread stuffed with spiced minced beef
Walk through downtown Cairo in the evening and you will smell hawawshi before you see it: round baladi breads split open, packed with minced beef, onion, green chilli and warm spices, then baked until the bread turns crisp and the fat from the meat soaks into the crumb. Street stalls sell it wrapped in paper with pickles and tahini; at home it is a quick Friday supper. Pitta works well if you can't find baladi bread. The mistake most people make is packing in too thick a layer of meat, so the bread burns before the middle is cooked; keep it about 1 cm thick. Chef's tip: squeeze the grated onion in a sieve before mixing it in, or the filling turns wet and the bread goes soggy.
- Total time
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the filling
To assemble
Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Heat the oven to 425°F (fan 400°F) and put a large baking tray in to heat up.
10 minStep 2: In a bowl, mix 1 ⅛ lb minced beef (15–20% fat), 1 onion, ½ green pepper, 1 green chilli, 2 cloves garlic, ½ oz flat-leaf parsley, 1 tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp ground allspice, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp black pepper with your hand until evenly combined and slightly sticky.
Step 3: Cut a slit along one edge of each 4 baladi bread or large pitta breads to open a pocket. Divide the meat into 4 and spread it inside each pocket in a thin, even layer right to the edges, about 1 cm thick. Press the bread closed.
Step 4: Brush both sides of the breads with 2 tbsp olive oil.
Step 5: Lay the breads on the hot tray and bake for 10 minutes. Turn them over and bake for 8–10 minutes more, until the bread is crisp and deep golden and the juices bubble at the edges.
20 minStep 6: Check one: cut it open in the middle, the meat must have no pink left and read 160°F on a thermometer. If not, return to the oven for 3–4 minutes.
Step 7: Rest for 2 minutes, then cut each into quarters. Serve hot with 4 tbsp tahini sauce and 3 ½ oz mixed pickles.
2 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 520 kcal
- Protein
- 30 g
- Carbs
- 40 g
- Fat
- 26 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does hawawshi take?
- About 40 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of green chilli?
- A pinch of chilli flakes per chilli.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Doubles
Doubles are Trinidad's favourite street food, sold from carts at dawn on corners from Curepe to San Fernando and said to have started in Princes Town in the 1930s. Two pieces of bara, a soft, puffy fried flatbread coloured with turmeric, are piled with soft curried chickpeas (channa), then spooned with sweet tamarind sauce, cool cucumber chutney, shado beni sauce and as much pepper sauce as you dare ('slight' or 'heavy'). They're messy, cheap and wonderful, eaten standing up from a square of paper. These are different from Indian chole bhature: the bara is light and yeasty, the channa is cooked very soft in Caribbean curry, and the toppings are sweet, sour and fiery all at once. Chef's tip: keep the bara dough very soft and wet, and handle it only with oiled hands. Stretch each ball thin over your fingers and slide it straight into the hot oil, so it puffs light and stays soft instead of turning into a crisp puri.
Lemongrass tofu banh mi
Bánh mì is Saigon's favourite street food: an airy, thin-crusted baguette split and stuffed with pickled carrot and daikon (đồ chua), cucumber, coriander and chilli. At vegetarian stalls near the city's pagodas the meat is swapped for sticky, caramelised lemongrass tofu, as in this version. Eat it for breakfast or lunch, warm, with a glass of iced coffee. Chef's tip: warm the baguette in a hot oven until the crust crackles when you squeeze it, and pull out a little of the soft crumb, so every bite is crisp shell, juicy filling and herbs in balance.
Thai bean burger
A Thai-flavoured veggie burger: butter beans are blended with fresh coconut, spring onions, coriander, roasted peanuts and red curry paste into coarse patties, shallow-fried until crisp and stacked in toasted buns with lettuce, onion and a little sweet chilli sauce. Filling, crunchy and full of flavour. Serve with a salad or chips.