HAWAWSHI! I am cooking today one of the most classical Egyptian street food; using a super easy recipe that is lighter & tastier than any store bought alternative.

First of all, I am using lean meat which I know is not common in making Hawawshi as FAT is one of the key ingredients. But I was able to create the same juiciness of street bought hawawshi by using cream cheese & oil instead of FAT. The result is extremely juicy & light besides you won’t feel the taste of cream cheese at all.

Second, the common way of cooking hawawshi is wrapping it in parchment paper & baking it in the oven for about 30 minutes. On the other hand my recipe requires only 5-7 minutes baking but your oven & baking tray/shelf have to be REALLY HOT. Actually, I use my oven shelf as a baking tray because it is already heating up in the oven so why not bake on it?

Don’t worry, the meat will be cooked in such a short time because first a thin layer of minced meat requires not more than minutes to cook & second the oven is already smoking hot. TRUST ME, you won’t end up with a raw filling.

This recipe makes about 6-7 medium balady loaves so if you use smaller or bigger loaves, the number of sandwiches will vary. Try to get good quality balady bread; not the super thin one sold nowadays at local bakeries.

This recipe takes minutes to prepare & minutes to bake. It is super easy & the meat mixture can be prepared in advance & stored in your freezer for later use. All you have to do is prepare some french fries (or baked wedges), tahini, salad & lunch will be ready.

Ingredients:

• 500 gm lean minced meat لحم صافى
• 1 small tomato finely diced
• 1 small green pepper finely diced
• 1-2 chili pepper finely diced فلفل حار
• 1/4 cup parsley chopped بقدونس
• 1 small onion shredded بصل مبشور
• 1 tsp allspice بهارات
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon قرفة
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg جوزة الطيب
• 1/2 tsp hawawshi spices بهارات حواوشى
• 2 Kiri squares at room temperature
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt & pepper
• 7 medium Baladi Bread loaves
• Oil for brushing

Directions

• Mix all the ingredients together until thoroughly combined & refrigerate for about 4-6 hrs up to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 230 C. Place the shelf in the lowest rack. يوضع الرف فى أسفل الفرن
• Cut each bread loaf in half. Stuff each half with a thin layer of the meat mixture. Spread the meat into an even layer inside the bread. Using a pastry brush, brush each side of the bread generously with oil.
• Place the bread directly on the oven shelf. You should hear a sizzle. Arrange in a single layer; don’t overlap. Bake the bread for about 3-5 minutes or until the bottom side is nicely golden & crispy then flip the bread & bake for another 3 minutes on the other side; until golden & crispy as well. Depending on the size of your oven, you might need to do this in 2-3 batches.
• Serve immediately with green salad, tahini & french fries.

Notes:

• Make sure all the veggies are FINELY diced so that they melt into the minced meat. You can use an electric chopper instead of chopping the veggies by hand.
• You can use olive oil instead of oil.
• I bake the loaves on the oven shelf directly then wash it when it cools down. If you don’t want to bake directly on the oven shelf, place a large baking tray to heat up in the oven & bake the loaves on it.
• Preheat the oven for about 20-25 minutes. If you don’t hear a sizzle when you place the loaves on the shelf, continue heating the oven for another 10 minutes then try again. If your oven is not hot enough, the baking time will change dramatically.
• Hawawshi spices are sold in all large supermarkets & at the 3attar.