Egyptian · Lunch

Kishk Masri

A thick soup of yogurt and flour cooked out slowly and poured over fried bread and onions. Sour, savoury and completely unlike anything else in the book.

45 min total Serves 4 servings Easy
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Kishk Masri

Photograph credit: Kishk by Cairocamels B. Simpson · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The flour has to be cooked out for a good five minutes in the butter before any yogurt goes in, or the finished soup tastes raw and pasty — this is a roux, and it behaves like one. Once the yogurt is in, the same rule applies as to every yogurt sauce in this book: constant stirring in one direction until it simmers, at which point it is stable. Take the pan off the heat the moment it thickens; kishk left bubbling turns grainy.

How to Make Kishk Masri

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  1. Fry the sliced onions in the olive oil over medium heat for 15 minutes until deep brown and crisp. Drain and set aside.

  2. Melt the butter in a heavy pan, add the flour, and cook it out over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring, until it smells biscuity and turns pale sand-coloured.

  3. Whisk the yogurt with the water until smooth, then pour it into the roux in a thin stream, whisking hard.

  4. Add the garlic, ground coriander and salt.

  5. Stir constantly in one direction over medium heat for about 8 minutes until it comes to a gentle simmer and thickens to the consistency of double cream.

  6. Take it off the heat immediately — it goes grainy if held at a boil.

  7. Pour over the fried bread in bowls, top with the crisp onions and chilli flakes, and serve hot.

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A Few Pointers

  • Cook the flour out for a full 5 minutes or the soup tastes raw.
  • One direction, constant stirring, until it simmers.
  • Off the heat the moment it thickens.

Changing the Recipe

  • An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

What to Serve With It

Aish baladi · Torshi · A green salad

Leftovers and Storage

Refrigerated for 2 days. Rewarm gently without boiling and add the bread and onions fresh.

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

391Calories
18gProtein
28gCarbs
23gFat
2gFibre
9gSugar
860mgSodium

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .