As a special bonus for LeavingAmerika.com readers, I am publishing this evening the recipe for The Gounaman Special.
This is a fantastic, unbelievably healthy, nutritious, and most importantly — mind blowingly delicious — pita bread sandwich that I invented, after being subjected to five months of mostly mediocre, overpriced fare at Gouna’s chancy restaurants.
You can easily make this sandwich at home, or, if visiting El Gouna, Egypt, order this off-menu item from Habib, the waiter at Zomba’s in the downtown area. Just tell him you want the Gounaman Special, and mention that Gounaman sent you!
Recipe:
1 pocket pita bread (heated)
2 felafel (ta’miyya in Arabic) balls (not crushed felafel paste mixed in with the foul!)
generous portion of pureed foul medames (fava beans), fried in olive oil (very important!)
1 hard boiled egg, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
a pinch of chopped lettuce (optional)
a generous dollop of tahina (critical)
a pinch of pepper
Ask Habib to serve it with freshly squeezed orange juice, and voila, you will enjoy the healthiest, most nutritious breakfast in Gouna to start your day.
Cost is 80LE (US $4.5) for 2 at Zomba’s.
Make sure you leave him a nice baksheesh!
Gounaman’s tip of the day: If you’re in Cairo, ask wherever you go for breakfast to serve you a Gounaman Special in a pocket (or regheef) of eish baladi (a small, round loaf of whole wheat bread, very popular in Egypt, but unavailable in Gouna).
Leaving Amerika 