Hawawshi: Egypt's Crisp Spiced-Meat Flatbread

What is hawawshi?

Hawawshi is Egypt's answer to a meat pie: a pocket of baladi bread packed with raw, spiced minced meat and baked until the bread is crunchy and the filling has cooked in its own juices. Cut into quarters, it is somewhere between a toasted sandwich and a flatbread pizza, and it is one of the most satisfying cheap meals in the country.

You'll find it at specialist hawawshi shops, at butchers who bake it from their own mince, at grill houses and, increasingly, at modern Egyptian street-food restaurants that make gourmet versions. It is popular as a lunch on the go and as late-night food, and it features on many guided Cairo food tours.

What goes into hawawshi?

The filling is fatty minced meat mixed with finely chopped onion, capsicum and chilli, fresh parsley and a spice blend, spread raw inside the bread. Fat matters: as it renders in the oven, it soaks into the bread and crisps it from the inside.

• Meat: usually beef, sometimes lamb or a mix, with a good proportion of fat.
• Vegetables: onion, green capsicum, fresh green chilli, sometimes tomato.
• Herbs and spices: parsley, black pepper, cumin, coriander, allspice or a seven-spice blend, chilli flakes and salt. Each shop guards its own mix.
• Bread: aish baladi, the round wholemeal pocket bread, brushed with fat or oil outside before baking.

Read more about the bread itself in our guide to Egyptian bread.

Where does the name come from?

Hawawshi is popularly said to be named after a Cairo butcher called Ahmed al-Hawawshi, who is credited with inventing it in the 1970s. The story is widely repeated in Egypt and in the food press, though, like most dish origins, it's hard to confirm. Whatever the truth, the dish spread quickly because it suited Egypt perfectly: it uses the bread on every table, stretches a little meat a long way, and can be cooked in any bakery oven.

How do Cairo and Alexandria hawawshi differ?

Cairo hawawshi uses ready-baked baladi bread; Alexandrian hawawshi wraps the filling in fresh dough, which bakes into a thicker, more pie-like crust. The Alexandrian version (hawawshi iskandarani) is often baked in a wood-fired oven and is closer to a closed pastry, while the Cairo style is crisper and thinner. Alexandria's food scene is famously proud of its own versions of national dishes; see the Alexandria destination guide if you're planning a visit.

Modern takes add cheese (often mozzarella or rumi), sausage, or a mix of minced meat and chicken, and some restaurants offer smaller hawawshi as a side. In Alexandria, ask for it with a side of the city's famous pickles and a little tahini, and expect a heavier, more filling round than in Cairo, closer to a meal for two.

How do you eat hawawshi, and is it safe?

Eat it hot, straight from the oven, cut into wedges, with pickles, tahini and a squeeze of lemon or extra chilli. It is greasy in the best way, so ask for napkins. Most people eat it with their hands; a whole round is a generous meal.

The usual sides are a small dish of mixed torshi (pickled turnip, carrot, cucumber and chilli), a little bowl of tahini, and sometimes a chopped salad. Egyptians often wash it down with a cold soft drink, or finish at a juice bar with sugar cane juice or a seasonal mango or guava juice; our Egyptian drinks guide explains the options. If you're sharing several street dishes in one evening, a quarter or half of a hawawshi is plenty, leaving room for koshari or something sweet.

Because the meat goes into the bread raw, hawawshi should be properly cooked: the bread should be crisp and the filling hot and brown right through, with no pink. Choose a busy shop that bakes to order rather than one with rounds sitting under a lamp, which is the same rule our food safety guide recommends for all street food.

Where can you try hawawshi?

Any busy hawawshi shop or butcher's oven in Cairo or Alexandria, or a modern Egyptian street-food restaurant if you want something more polished. Popular Cairo districts include Sayeda Zeinab and Downtown, where locals queue in the evenings. Zooba, a modern Egyptian street-food chain that began in Zamalek, serves its own take on hawawshi and was operating at the time of writing. Shops come and go, so let your guide steer you to whichever is busiest right now; a lively crowd is the best recommendation. Indicative cost: a few Australian dollars for a whole hawawshi at a local shop, at the time of writing.

Is there a vegetarian hawawshi, and how is it made?

Traditional hawawshi always contains meat, and vegetarian versions are rare, though a few modern places make cheese or vegetable fillings. Vegetarians wanting a similar crisp, filled bread should try a cheese feteer or a ta'ameya sandwich instead.

At home, it's straightforward. Mix minced beef with grated onion, chopped capsicum, chilli and parsley, and season with salt, pepper and spices. Split a pocket bread, spread a thin, even layer of the raw mixture inside, press closed, and brush the outside with oil. Bake on a tray in a very hot oven, around 220 to 230°C, for 15 to 20 minutes, turning once, until the bread is crisp and the meat is cooked through. A thinner layer of filling cooks more evenly than a thick one.