Yemen

🇩🇯Djibouti

Arabic Coffee

قهوة عربية

Light roasted Arabica coffee with cardamom and saffron, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, symbol of Emirati hospitality, light golden color with distinct cardamom fragrance, served in tiny finjan cups.

🇴🇲Dhofar, Oman

Aseeda

عصيدة

Omani Aseeda is a warm Dhofari sweet of flour, ghee, and local honey cooked to a smooth, spoonable consistency and served hot.

🇾🇪Yemen

Aṣīṭ

Sorghum, barley or maize meal cooked into a dense paste and served with broth, ghee or honey.

🇪🇬Egypt

Basbousa

بسبوسة

A Egyptian semolina cake soaked in sugar syrup, topped with almonds or coconut, a daily and sweet shop classic

🇾🇪Yemen

Bint al-Sahn

Twenty or more paper-thin layers of dough brushed with ghee and baked into a golden dome, then flooded with black honey and nigella seeds.

🇾🇪Yemen

Diba'a

Squash or pumpkin cooked, strained and sweetened into a thick amber nectar drunk cold.

🇾🇪Yemen

Fahsa

فحسة

Fahsa is a Yemeni meat stew of slow-cooked beef or lamb shredded into a thick, bubbling broth and finished with fenugreek hulba foam, traditionally served in a stone pot.

🇾🇪Yemen

Fatoot

Torn flatbread fried in ghee with eggs and sometimes tomato until it crisps at the edges.

🇸🇩Sudan

Ful Medames

فول مدمس

Dried fava beans simmered soft and crushed at the table with lemon, garlic, cumin and olive oil, eaten with raw onion and bread.

🇾🇪Aseer, Yemen

Haneeth

حنيث

Southern Saudi specialty of lamb slow-cooked in underground oven with aromatic leaves, king of Asir tables, served at weddings and celebrations, meat separates from bone effortlessly with distinct herbal aroma, an Asir regional icon.

🇦🇪United Arab Emirates

Harees

هريس

Wheat and meat porridge slow-cooked for hours then beaten until smooth, a Ramadan specialty and wedding dish, UNESCO-recognized, smooth porridge-like consistency with meat fully incorporated.

🇾🇪Yemen

Hawaij

هوايج

Spice blend used in mandi and other Yemeni-influenced dishes, cardamom, coriander, cumin, turmeric, and black pepper, aromatic and warming, cardamom-forward aroma with warming spice blend and yellowish color from turmeric, an essential Saudi ingredient.

🇮🇱Israel

Hilbeh

חילבה

Fenugreek soaked and whipped with water until it forms a pale foam, mixed with schug and eaten with Yemenite breads and soups.

🇴🇲Oman

Honeycomb Bread

خلية النحل

Khaliat Nahal is sweet yeasted bread arranged in a honeycomb pattern, filled with cheese, and drizzled with syrup.

🇾🇪Yemen

Hulba

Fenugreek seeds soaked overnight and whipped with water and lemon into a pale, bitter foam spooned over saltah and fahsa.

🇮🇱Israel

Jachnun

ג'חנון

Yemenite rolled dough baked overnight at low heat until it turns brown and dense, served on Shabbat morning with grated tomato, hard-boiled egg and schug.

🇸🇩Sudan

Karkade (Hibiscus Tea)

كركديه

Egypt's beloved hibiscus tea, served hot or cold with sugar, a national and hospitality icon

🇾🇪Yemen

Khobz al Tawa

Khobz al Tawa is a thin Yemeni flatbread cooked on a metal griddle rather than in a tandoor; it is drier and keeps longer than the thicker tandoor bread Saluf.

🇾🇪Yemen

Komroh

Fava beans cooked soft and mashed with garlic, ghee, black pepper and salt into a thick breakfast bowl.

🇮🇱Israel

Kubaneh

כובנה

Yemenite enriched bread layered with butter and baked overnight in a sealed pot until the crust darkens and the inside pulls apart in buttery sheets.

🇮🇱Israel

Lachuch

לחוח

Spongy Yemenite pancake cooked on one side only, its surface covered in open holes, used to scoop soup and stew.

🇩🇯Djibouti

Lahoh

A batter of sorghum or wheat left to sour overnight and cooked on one side only, coming out spongy and covered in holes.

🇦🇪United Arab Emirates

Luqaimat

لقيمات

Luqaimat are sweet fried dough dumplings with a crisp exterior and airy center, drizzled with date syrup and sesame seeds for Ramadan iftar.

🇦🇪United Arab Emirates

Machboos

مجبوس

Machboos (majboos) is Gulf spiced rice cooked in meat or fish stock with loomi dried lime, onions, and a warm bezar-style spice mix; the protein and local garnish change by household and coast.

🇸🇦Saudi Arabia

Madbi

مضبي

Madbi is a southern Saudi and Yemeni-style preparation in which meat is grilled over hot stones or coals before being served with spiced rice; the direct heat gives it a charred edge distinct from pit-cooked Mandi.

🇮🇱Israel

Malawach

מלואח

Yemenite flaky flatbread of dough folded repeatedly with fat, then fried in a pan until the layers separate and crisp.

🇸🇴Somalia

Malawah

A sweet, slightly greasy crepe-like flatbread; a staple of most Somali home-cooked meals; usually eaten for breakfast with tea, similarly to canjeero; Yemeni-influenced layers of dough and ghee fry up crisp; drizzled with honey or sugar; a sweet breakfast treat; the crepe of Somali mornings; found at every breakfast table.

🇸🇦Saudi Arabia

Mandi

مندي

Mandi is rice served with meat cooked in a tandoor or pit so smoke and rendered fat perfume the grains; the Saudi form carries a strong southern and Yemeni culinary tradition.

🇾🇪Yemen

Masoob

Overripe bananas mashed into torn flatbread with cream, curd cheese, dates and honey, served warm in a bowl.

🇾🇪Yemen

Mutabbaq

مطبق

Stuffed folded flatbread with minced meat, eggs, onions, and herbs, originated in Hijaz, now popular street food across Saudi, name means 'folded' in Arabic, thin crispy dough almost transparent with generous filling, a beloved street food.

🇾🇪Yemen

Naqe'e al Zabib

Raisins soaked in cold water for a day until the water turns brown and sweet, then strained and drunk chilled at iftar.

🇾🇪Yemen

Našūf

Coarsely ground wheat or barley cooked into a porridge and eaten with ghee and honey or sugar.

🇾🇪Yemen

Qishr

The dried husks of the coffee cherry boiled with ginger and cardamom into a light, spiced amber drink that contains almost no caffeine.

🇾🇪Yemen

Sahawiq

Green chillies, coriander, garlic and tomato pounded in a stone mortar into a raw, fiery relish that goes on and into everything.

🇾🇪Yemen

Saltah

A stone pot of meat stew brought to the table still boiling, crowned with whipped fenugreek froth and a spoon of green sahawiq stirred in.

🇾🇪Yemen

Saluf

Ṣalūf

Saluf is a thick Yemeni tandoor bread baked against the hot wall of an oven, with a chewy crumb and smoky blistered crust that distinguishes it from griddle-cooked Khobz al Tawa.