Hawawshi

Hawawshi (sometimes spelled hawwaoshi; Egyptian Arabic: حواوشي‎; IPA: [ħæˈwæwʃi]) is a traditional Egyptian dish. It is a pita stuffed with minced meat and spiced with onions, pepper, parsley, and occasionally chilies. The major variants of hawawshi are "baladi" (it means standard) in Cairo and Alexandrian.

In Egypt, hawawshi pitas are typically made to order so they're fresh out of the oven when you get them. When local Egyptian restaurants, particularly in Cairo or Alexandria, make it, they start by making a special dough (similar to the dough used for pita bread) and then they wrap the dough around the meat mixture and cook it in their large ovens (some use clay ovens or pizza ovens).

Hawawshi was invented in 1971 by an Egyptian butcher named Ahmed al-Hawawsh. From his stall in the Souk Al-Tawfik neighborhood in Cairo, hawawshi spread throughout Cairo and then to the rest of Egypt.

Hawawshi has also spread to other countries in the Middle East and North Africa with some variation. In the Levant, it is made using saj bread and includes hot peppers in the filling. In Algeria, it is known as "muhajib" and is eaten with soup or a yoghurt salad.