All these unique characteristics and history have bestowed upon the Ottoman cuisine a rich and varied number of dishes, which can be prepared and combined with other dishes in meals of almost infinite variety, but always in a non-arbitrary way. This led to a cuisine that is open to improvisation through development of regional styles, while retaining its deep structure, as all great works of art do. The cuisine is also an integral aspect of culture. It is a part of the rituals of everyday life events, and reflects spirituality, in forms that are specific to it, through symbolism and practice.

Today the Turkish community in Alexandria counts around 300 hundred members, and is composed of two types. There are the expatriates who are here on a contractual basis, mostly working in the factories recently built in Borg el Arab. The rest are the descendents the Turco-Egyptian aristocracy that had formed the ruling class of Egypt from the days of Ottoman rule through to Mohamed Ali and his family. While the Turks did not intermarry with the foreign communities of Egypt, they did occasionally marry Egyptians, as well as the Circassians who were famed for their beauty (so much so that the Wali granted land to the nobleman who would marry a Circassian slave, in order to maintain the good looks of the ruling class), and they eventually integrated into society. Few today will speak Turkish, unlike the Greeks or Armenians who have not forgotten their native tongue. While a good number of Alexandrians are proud to have a Turkish grandmother somewhere in the family tree, few will speak the language, or know whether that blood is Turkish or Circassian (which have become virtually indistinguishable), or recognize Turkish dishes in their kitchen. In some cases, what becomes known as a Turkish or Circassian specialty turns out to be an Egyptian meal with little connection to Turkey. One such case is the famous Abaza lentils, a closely-guarded recipe of the Abaza family. The Abazas, one of the best-known Circassian families in Egypt, have branches in Cairo, Alexandria and several governorates. As he was getting off the train in Sharqiyya, a member of the Abaza family met a group of his friends and invited them all to lunch at home. The wife, totally unprepared for the sudden arrival of all these guests, had to invent this dish with whatever ingredients were available. It became the most famous dish in the family.

Abaza Lentils

500 g lentils
2 kg tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 ½ kg onions, chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 whole chicken, medium size
Water for cooking chicken
2 cardamom pods
2 mastic crystals
Salt and pepper to taste
250 g butter
1 jar tomato paste
2 bunches dill, chopped
2 bunches parsley, chopped
1 bunch coriander, chopped
1 garlic bulb, peeled, finely chopped
2 tbsp ground coriander

• Rinse lentils thoroughly until water runs clear.
• Pour lentils in a large pot with water placing lid on over low heat.
• Add some tomatoes (equal to 1 tomato), 1 carrot, and some chopped onions (equal to 1 onion), 4 garlic cloves, and cumin and simmer until lentils are softened.
• Place in a blender and carefully blitz the mixture to a puree. Set aside.
• Poach chicken in water. Bring to the boil then simmer with cardamom pods, mastic crystals, salt and pepper until chicken is fully cooked. Debone and set aside.
• Measure butter (reserving 2 tbsp) in a pot over low heat and add remaining chopped onions, stirring continuously.
• When onions are golden, add remaining tomatoes and tomato paste and continue stirring until butter separates.
• Add pureed lentils, place lid and simmer for about 1 hour stirring from time to time until butter separates - add chicken broth as needed to thin the mixture.
• Add dill, parsley and coriander, bring to the boil and remove from heat.
• Add reserved 2 tbsp butter to a sauté pan, add garlic and ground coriander and panfry until golden then add to lentils mixture.
• Arrange deboned chicken in a large oven proof dish and pour lentil mixture over it.
• Insert in a hot oven until bubbly.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7