WATERMELON MARKET IN CAIRO

Only twice during our seven months stay in Cairo, have we attempted to buy and eat watermelon, my favorite fruit and both the attempts have ended in disaster! And to top it all, the atempts were costly too!

During the first week of our stay in Cairo, we purchased a watermelon for LE 40 and had to throw it away as it had gone stale! The second time we managed to get a watermelon for LE 25. But since we would be travelling over the next two days, we thought we were being smart by putting the watermelon in the freezer for the duration-and that was the end of it!

As they say, “third time lucky” and that is exactly what happened to us! Last week, we visited the wholesale market for watermelons in Cairo at Sahil Izhara (just before the turn for getting onto the Maadi-6th October Ring Road when coming in from the Corniche). This is the season for the watermelons and seeing mounds of fruit piled high is a visual feast!

First we walked the entire length of the market-at one place the fruit was being packed for export purposes; at yet another stall, the seller was using a drum and singing out to attract customers. Though most of the market had watermelons on display, at one of the stalls we saw peaches and onions too.

Now that we had established our credentials as “serious” buyers, a man approached us saying that he had the best watermelons available for LE20. When we said the price was too high, he said that he had some available for LE 8, though they might not be as sweet. We told him that we wanted something that was sweet but at a lower price. At this point, he invited us into his stall and showed us the watermelons and told us that he could really not go below LE 20 as the fruits were the best and the “stall owner” would not allow it. We offered LE 15-only to be met by a firm shake of the head.

Our driver now stepped in-he took out his cigarette pack and offered one to the vendor before lighting his own. He informed him that though we were “agnabis” (foreigners), we stayed in Cairo and if he sold us the watermelons at a good price and they turned out to be sweet, then he would get regular business from us and the other families working in the same company as my husband. This seemed to work and the vendor agreed to sell us four watermelons at LE 15 each.

Then it was time for the “specialist” to come in and choose the fruit for us-he hit the watermelons a couple of times and depending on the sound that followed, decided whether it was "good" or "not good enough". Our driver now insisted that the vendor cut one watermelon right there so that we could ascertain that it was indeed sweet. Out of nowhere a group of men materialized as if to watch a show and even "ohhed" and "ahhed" over the colour of the watermelon when it was cut. A small boy claiming to be the son of the "stall owner" wanted us to take the fruit chosen by him and went ahead and replaced one of them in the pile! He even had the audacity to ask for a photograph with me alone! And I thought he was a baby!

I am happy to report that the watermelons were indeed very sweet – it was definitely a “fruitful” visit.

Full on Fuul

Over the last two days, I have had some really interesting and tasty vegetarian Egyptian food. Of course, I have had the ubiquitous fuul and ta'miya countless number of times. Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Yemen all claim fuul and ta'miya to be “their” food; the preparation differs from country to country though.

Fuul is fava beans or broad beans that are boiled and then mashed with garlic, lemon, chilli powder and olive oil. At the Mohammed Ahmed outlet in Alexandria, you can choose from fuul with hummus, fuul Alexandria or fuul with fried eggs. The last one is my personal favourite and makes an extremely satisfying meal. Also the place has one of the crispiest ta'miya but beware!-You will not be able to stop once you have had one!. For the uninitiated ta'miya is boiled and deep fried fava beans patties. In Lebanon, it is referred to as felafel and chick peas are used instead of fava beans.

Hummus is chick peas blended with tahina, lemon juice and garlic and tastes absolutely divine; especially when it has generous amounts of olive oil drizzled on it. We had a completely different version of the hummus from a street side vendor at the Suez Canal. He prepared it by pouring boiling water over the boiled chick peas and then stirred in chili powder, lemon juice and tomatoes. He was very generous with the chilli powder, thinking that we are IndiansJ. It is guaranteed to thoroughly cleanse your system!

After having crossed to the east bank of the Suez canal at Qantara, we came across an eatery by the name of Nanoos. It is a very unassuming place but has the best baba ghanoug in Egypt!. The place is your equivalent to an Indian dhaba, the bread served here is soft and is just plonked on the tableJ. Just avoid the last bread and you should be fine. Also, the place serves a dish called “atts”-have googled but have not been able to come up with anything on it. It is like lentil soup with spaghetti thrown in and lightly spiced. I was told that Nanoos gets it just right-. I loved it and had two bowls of it. Here I have written the name as it is pronounced; will update you on this dish if am able to get any further information.

And the icing on the cake is that all the above are vegetarian!