“I can’t mention keshk without giving tribute to my Turkish-Egyptian grandma, It reminds me of the fabulous dinners at her place. It is where I learned the recipe Kishk the Egyptian savory pudding. To me, it’s more than just a recipe, it’s the memory that I bring from home and that I will always cherish. I cook to always remember where I come from and am hoping to pass this to my kids.”, Menna says.
What is Egyptian Kishk Almaz
Kishk or Keshk is the ultimate savory pudding of Egyptian Cuisine. It is a unique dish to Egypt, that is scrumptious, easy to make and nutritious. As fancy as it sounds, Kishk/Keshk calls for basic ingredients: Chicken broth, yogurt, garlic, onions, oil and flour.
Keshk Almaz is quite different from “Keshsk Se3eedee” which hails from upper Egypt, as the latter uses dehydrated yogurt and wheat. While both are delicious, I would argue that Keshk Almaz is slightly easier and straightforward to make, as it calls for omnipresent ingredients in every kitchen or grocery store.
How to Make Kehsk/Kishk Almaz
Foodies would disagree whether onions or chicken broth should be the hero in Egyptian Kishk. Personally, I believe that while onion is crucial to Kishk’s flavor, chicken broth is very much the foundation of Kishk. Therefore, make sure to either buy a quality store-bough chicken broth or batch epic homemade chicken broth, loaded with flavors and keep it in your freezer to use it in your kishk/keshk.
Step #1: Fry the Onions
Fry the sliced onion: In a frying pan, add the oil and heat over hight-medium heat. Once hot, add the sliced onions and stir in the oil until it is golden brown. Remove the fried onions with a slotted spoon and let the fried onion discard the excess oil in a fine mesh sieve fitted over a bowl. Let the frying oil cool completely. Filter the oil, discard any burnt bits and keep the filtered oil in a clean jar to cook the rest of the recipe.
Step #2: Make the Keshk/Kishk
Fry the grated onions in oil until golden brown. Don’t discard the onion-infused oil that you can use to flavor multiple dishes including this one. See notes. Put the pot with the yogurt and flour mixture over low heat and gradually add the chicken stock and continue to whisk until you reach the consistency of a white sauce (béchamel sauce). If for some reason, the kishk doesn’t thicken up, add corn flour, one tablespoon at a time and continue stirring.
Step#3: Assemble The Keshk/Kishk Almaz
Mix in the crushed garlic, a squeeze of lemon, and the caramelized onions. Turn off the heat. Transfer the kishk/Keshk to a serving dish. Garnish with fried onions, and drizzle of onion-infused oil.
What to Serve Kishk/Keshk Almaz With
Ideally, Serve Kishsk/Keshk, with toasted pita bread, Kabab Halal, or/and vermicelli rice.
Nermine’s Tips to Make the Best Kishk/Keshk Almaz
- To make the fried onions, avoid red onions as they take forever to become crunchy. Instead, opt for either shallots or yellow onions.
- Thinly slice the onions and let them air dry over kitchen absorbent paper to discard excess moisture to ensure they crisp up in hot oil.
What are the Ingredients of Kishk/Keshk Almaz
- Onions: Use either yellow onions or shallots for caramelizing and for frying. Avoid red onions in this recipe.
- Yogurt: Use full fat natural yogurt and not Greek yogurt, unless the latter is the only available option. In That case dilute Greek yogurt with some whole fat milk.
- Oil: Unflavored oil such as canola works best in Kishk Recipe.
- Garlic: Mince garlic before hand and keep it handy to add it to Keshk.
- Chicken broth: Either buy quality store-bough chicken broth or Use my homemade chicken broth recipe.
- All purpose flour/Rice Flour: Use all purpose flour or rice flour as a thickening agent to rich a pudding consistency. M personal choice goes for rice as it complements the flavors.
- Corn Flour: It is optional to use corn flour in addition to the all purpose flour to thicken up the pudding.
Variations & Substitutions of Keshk/Kishk Almaz
- In some variations of Kishk/Keshk Almaz, Egyptian home-cooks use short grain rice to thicken the pudding instead of flour.
- To add protein to Keshsk Almaz, shredded and boiled chicken may be added to Kishk.
- Instead of chicken broth, some Egyptian home-cooks prefer duck broth to make Kishk/Keshk Almaz.
More Egyptian Chicken Recipes
- Chicken Shawarma
- Batates Bel Ferakh (Egyptian Chicken-Potato Bake)
- Chicken Filo Pie
- Ruz Moa’amar Bel Ferakh
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Kishk Almaz (Egyptian Savory Pudding) Recipe : كشك المظ
Ingredients
- 3 cups fat regular yogurt, not greek yogurt
- 7 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 3 - 3 ½ cups chicken broth, or chicken bouillon diluted in 3 1/2 cup of water
- 1-3 tablespoons corn flour or cornstarch, optional
- 1 medium grated yellow onion
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Salt and pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, (optional)
Fried Onions
- 1 thinly sliced large onion
- 1 cup unflavored frying oil, such as canola
Instructions
Fry the sliced onion: In a frying pan, add the oil and heat over hight-medium heat. Once hot, add the sliced onions and stir in the oil until it is golden brown. Remove the fried onions with a slotted spoon and let the fried onion discard the excess oil in a fine mesh sieve fitted over a bowl. Let the frying oil cool completely. Filter the oil, discard any burnt bits and keep the filtered oil in a clean jar to cook the rest of the recipe.
Caramelize the grated onion: in hot oil over medium-low heat, add the grated onion until golden brown. See notes.
In a deep, heavy bottom pot add the yogurt and the flour and mix well with a wire whisk until you can’t see any lumps. Set aside.
Put the pot with the yogurt and flour mixture over low heat and gradually add the chicken stock/broth and continue to whisk until you reach the consistency of a white sauce (béchamel sauce). If for some reason, the kishk doesn’t thicken up, add corn flour diluted in milk, one tablespoon at a time and continue stirring until you reach the desired consistency.
Mix in the crushed garlic, a squeeze of lemon, and the caramelized onions.
Garnish with the fried onions, a drizzle of onion-infused oil. Serve with toasted pita bread, chicken, or/and vermicelli rice.
Nermine's Notes
- Ideally, full fat regular yogurt is the right type for this recipe, however, Greek yogurt could be used here, only if diluted with some milk.
- For the perfect crunchy fried onions, leave the onions, before frying, on a absorbent paper to absorb any excess moisture.
- What makes or breaks this dish is the quality of chicken broth. Opt for a homemade chicken broth rich in flavors, or quality organic chicken bouillon.
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Hi Nermine! This is an interesting post and your photography is Beautiful as always. I hope you and your family are well… I can’t wait for 2020 to be over. What a year! Stay well and Congratulations on your Wonderful blog. Best wishes, Denise
Thank you so much Denise about your kind words! It is a real pleasure an honor to have you as a member of my foodie tribe! Hope you will get to try this recipe and send us a photo of your rendition! It is pretty easy and perfect for cold winter nights. Stay safe and in touch. Much love, Nermine
Hi Nermine ,
How to cook kichk when the yogurt and the flour are premixed and store bought ?
Hi Nahla, I have never tried a mixed yogurt with flour. Where do you find that?
Very nice version
Thank you Amr.🙏