Nile Style: Egyptian Cuisine and Culture Paperback – June 15, 2013

I've been married to an Egyptian guy for 8 years--and ever since, I've been searching out Egyptian and Middle Eastern cookbooks. I have all of the main Egyptian ones, including Claudia Roden's "New Book of Middle Eastern Food", Samia Abdennour's "Egyptian Cooking", Sally Elias Hanna's "Dining on the Nile", Collette Rossant's "Memories of a Lost Egypt," and Magda Medhwany's "My Egyptian Grandmother's Kitchen."The recipes in "Nile Style" are easy and accessible to the average American--yet they are pretty much authentic. I wondered from the description if I'd be receiving ancient, but unpalatable, recipes--but that's not the case. All of the recipes here are used by Modern Egyptians--and are still very much a part of every day Egyptian cuisine. What I liked about Amy's book in particular was that she offers some things I haven't seen in others--such as the drink recipes (basically layering different fruit nectars) as well as the restaurant recommendations for not only Cairo, but also Alexandria and Luxor. She also includes recipes from Southern Egypt which is typically ignored in most other cookbooks which focus on mainly Cairo, with some fish recipes from Alexandria. I also learned about the dessert truffles, which I had never heard about.Her recipe for aish baladi is the best I've found. I couldn't find the unprocessed bran in my local stores, so I substituted toasted wheat germ (cereal aisle) and it worked very well. She includes the Egyptian-home style favorite "macarona bechamel"--which is similar to Greek pastito. The Egyptians I know use a typical French bechamel when making it, but I liked learning Amy's approach which mixes chicken/beef stock with the milk. It makes a very rich meal, slightly lighter. Her hawashi dough is excellent--very close to the stuff one finds on the street, but her filing was not traditional for me. I think "My Egyptian Grandmother.." does a better job with her mixture of ground meat, allspice, chopped carrot, green pepper, and garlic. Her fuul is a bit boring--I think I would have preferred to see some more variations--such as cooking/mashing the fuul with garlic, onion, tomatoes, and tahini, etc. Heating up a can of fuul isn't really a recipe to me. :) See Claudia Roden for how to actually cook the dried beans. The chicken shwarma was very good and one of the best I've found for doing it at home. Nothing is going to compare to something roasted on a vertical roaster--but this is good. I recommend squeezing some fresh lemon juice on it as you take it out of the oven. The masa'a was good--and I tried the unorthodox suggestion of adding cheese on top which my family loved. I also loved her serving suggestion for fattah in using the ramekins.The book contains lots of dessert recipes--and the few I've tried have been good. I like how she including the baklava with cream recipe--as it's a wonderful variation that many Americans have never had. I'm also eager to try the double chocolate baklava.Although not mentioned (or perhaps I missed it), you can always use ground beef for any recipe calling for ground lamb. It won't be exactly the same--but it works well and nearly every recipe that calls for ground lamb is made with both in Egypt.The book has some nice pictures and is a good, if small, size. If you are at all interested in Egyptian cooking, I highly recommend adding it to your library. I'd also recommend Claudia Roden's and Sally Elias Hanna's books as well. Those are the ones I keep coming back to.

I was very pleased to finally find a cooking book for Egyptan Cuisine that wasn't just repackaged regional recipees, although many of the favorite dishes of Egypt are from the region and are included here.The recipees are fairly straight forward, and preceded by a one paragraph snapshot of the culture, festivals or ingredients.The name of each item in local egyptian dialect is also provided under the common english term. That's helpful when asking a friend to make it for you or share their family culture.There are a few color photos in the center and a few B&W dishes, but many of the entries had sufficient white space to have a sketch of the food, which would have been appreciated.If you are a festive person, you'll love how the book centers around different regions or festivals of the calendar years, and this helps when planning a seasonal-appropriate dinner party. However if you want five cookie recipees, you will have to forage through many sections to find them all.

I didn't expect much, since the download was free, but boy was I surprised. I'm a culture addict anyway, but reading this book not only gave me a different view of Islam's influence, but a good history lesson. Some of the foods, as expected in the Middle East, are fairly similar, but there are dishes that stand out on their own.The ingredients are easy to find locally (I say that, because I live in a small town), and the instructions are wordy, but simple to follow. Try the Circassian Chicken, or the Meat and Bulgur Fingers... they're worth a shot if you like taking your time in the kitchen.

I'm an American that has been married to an Egyptian/Armenian for 30 years, and I can tell you these recipes are the Real McCoy. If you've never tried Middle Eastern cooking, this is an excellent starting point. Different and delicious, I make them all the time in rotation along with meat loaf and mac and cheese. And the recipes are fairly simple with almost everything available at your local market. Give it a try!

It is ok the vegetarian dishes were very good, but I was not familiar with some of the spices and herbs and would have liked some clarification

Like the video I first viewed online, the book is filled with colorful pictures and delicious sounding recipes that I can't wait to try all of...well most. I have already made "Basboosa" and it was delicious! My whole family gobbled it up! Great cookbok with instructions to start learning to cook for my new Egyptian boyfriend. I am very pleased with this purchase.

Must-try recipes and a great format with everything broken down into sections and occasions. Plenty of tidbits and recipes for every taste. I especially love the Bamya (beef and okra stew) and the Strawberry/orange/mint shake. Have used this many times since downloading and will continue to explore it and make my current favorites as well!

I got this free e-book to try to get a little more cultured. I haven't cooked anything from it yet, but have found it to be an interesting read. It discusses foods found in different parts of Egyption customs.

great product and quality service.