There is no doubt that eating delicious food is one of the most enjoyable experiences in life. Food gives us power, good food boosts our health, delicious food affects our mood, and much more.
As the holy month of Ramadan begins, this may be the best time of the year to follow good food programmes on TV and make the best recipes we can to impress our loved ones and our guests. Emad Al-Khosht, who has a passion for food, has shared his mouthwatering recipes for Ramadan.
“My passion for cooking came very early in life when I was young and was inspired by my mother,” Al-Khosht said. “I used to cook for guests and loved ones, and I helped my family and friends by suggesting recipes for them to cook.”
“Later, I studied at the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, which gave me my academic expertise.”
However, Al-Khosht’s wider public profile came later when he started doing cooking shows on the Egyptian TV food channel CBC Sofra.
“I did a screen test and was accepted. The food I cooked was a success, and from there I hit the road with my programme that started in 2013. The first series was called Tabkha wa Noss (A cook and a half), and the idea was to make a main meal and then use the leftovers to make another special one,” he said.
“The programme also promoted good eating habits, and it became a must-watch for newlyweds. I made all the recipes from scratch with special ingredients. We used to present different international kitchens – oriental, Italian, French, and so on – but the desserts we made were often my own.”
In 2015, Al-Khosht suggested another programme called Gedo Emad (Grandfather Emad), but the channel was not ready for it at the time. Even so, just three years later Gedo Emad came into being.
“The idea of the new programme was based on cooking as usual, but it had a new and educational edge,” he said. “It was a cooking programme presented by a chef hosting two kids in each episode. At the beginning of each episode, the chef would talk to the kids about topics like the history of the country, the Arabic language, daily manners and values, and so on,” and from there the programme would move onto cooking.
“Many children nowadays spend a lot of time on social media, eat fast food that will affect their heath, or even suffer from bullying in schools and clubs. These are all negative elements in their lives, and they need TV programmes that can help them build their manners and values, while getting used to eating heathy food,” Al-Khosht added.
“In all my cooking programmes I am always keen to explain why I am using the ingredients I have selected and what steps are needed for the meal to make it clear to the audience. Working as a chef is not an easy job, especially when you are making large quantities of food. It is a job that needs a special taste or a special talent.”
Egyptian audiences like to be served large quantities of food, and they also do not like food to be underdone, Al-Khosht commented. This means that sometimes challenges can arise when presenting international recipes, because some of these, especially meat recipes, may be cooked rare. Egyptian audiences prefer well-done meat, even if this can sometimes be at the expense of the taste, he added.
“If you want to cook meat well done, it needs to be a fatty piece to start with,” he said.
“Let me give you a final word about cooking before talking about recipes for Ramadan,” he added. “Cooking together with your loved ones can make you closer to each other and help you share good moments and delicious tastes together. For this reason, I advise men to share the cooking with their wives.”
With Ramadan starting soon, Al-Khosht shared two recipes with Al-Ahram Weekly, the first for sweet potatoes with marshmallows and caramel sauce and walnuts and the second for lentils with spinach (adssiya).
Sweet potatoes with mushrooms
Ingredients
1 kg sweet potatoes
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup cream
1 cup roasted walnuts
1 marshmallow pack
Method
Wash the sweet potatoes carefully and wrap them in foil and place them in the oven. Peel the cooked sweet potatoes well and mash them, adding three tablespoons of cream and the walnuts. Mix with a mixer and keep the rest of the cream warm to one side. Warm the butter and add the sugar until it is caramelised. Add the rest of the cream and stir, add the caramel sauce, and pour it over the sweet potatoes. Place the marshmallow on top, after slightly
charring it with a food gun.
Adssiya
Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup diced red onions
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced leeks
1/2 cup diced celery
2 tablespoons of garlic
1/2 cup tomato cubes
1/2 cup diced potatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon curcumin
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon lemon peel
3/4 cup yellow lentils
3/4 cup green or dark lentils
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups spinach leaves
1/2 cup rayeb milk
1 cup broth
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper
A pinch of diced green coriander
3 tablespoons sour cream
Method
Put the red onions over the heat in the olive oil, with the carrots, leeks, celery, garlic, and tomato cubes and stir until the colour is brown. Poor in the potato cubes and add salt and pepper, cumin, paprika, nutmeg, and lemon peel to taste. Add a quarter of a cup of water and stir. Add the lentils then the broth and tomato paste and cover until the mixture is cooked.
You can then add the spinach and rayeb milk along with lentils and then add salt and pepper, hot pepper, green coriander, red onions, and sour cream on top.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 19 February, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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