Arabian

Saudi and Gulf cooking, built around rice, lamb, dates and aromatic spice. Kabsa (spiced rice with chicken or lamb) is the centrepiece; mansaf, saleeg and harees fill out the table. Baharat (a blend of black pepper, cardamom, cumin, coriander, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon) seasons; saffron and dried lime perfume; mezze of hummus, mutabbal and salads share the spread.

15 recipes

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Desserts 2 recipes

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Recipes

Kabsa

Saudi Arabia's national dish, the one platter you'll meet at almost every gathering from family lunch through wedding banquet. You brown chicken pieces or lamb shoulder hard in a heavy pot, then build a base of onion, garlic and ginger softened in the same fat, with tomato and a spoonful of baharat (or a dedicated kabsa spice mix) blooming until the kitchen fills with cardamom and cinnamon. The protein simmers in tomato and stock until it's tender and pulling away from the bone, then long-grain rice goes in to cook absorption-style in the same liquid, drinking up every layer of flavour the broth carries. You finish with almonds toasted in butter, raisins plumped briefly, and a fresh salsa of tomato, onion, chilli and parsley spooned on the side to cut the richness. Eaten communally from the centre platter, with hands or a long spoon.

1 hour 35 minutes Serves6

Madghoot

The fast Saudi cousin of mandi, made when you want kabsa-deep flavour but the day doesn't have three hours in it for the meat to cook. You give bone-in lamb a quick wet marinade of crushed tomato, baharat, dried lime, garlic and yogurt (the yogurt tenderises while the spice mix works in), then it goes into a pressure cooker with onion and stock for thirty minutes under pressure, which is what a slow oven would otherwise do in three hours. The cooking liquid gets strained out (it is the dish's stock), basmati cooks absorption-style in it for twelve to fifteen minutes, and the lamb returns on top to rest while the rice steams through. Served straight from the pot with sahawiq (the chilli-coriander relish that shows up on every Khaleeji table) and salata on the side. Weeknight kabsa, basically.

2 hours 10 minutes Serves4

Mathloutha

The Saudi gathering platter built for the night when one cut of meat isn't enough. Three proteins share the same pot: lamb shoulder and beef chunks go in first with a kabsa-spiced tomato base for ninety minutes of slow simmer until they're meltingly tender, then chicken pieces drop in for the last thirty-five minutes (their cook time is shorter, so they go in later). The strained meat broth, deeply spiced from everything that has braised in it, becomes the cooking liquid for basmati scented with saffron and dried lime. At the end you arrange all three meats on top of the rice in the same platter and bring the whole thing to the centre of the table. The kind of dish you make for a wedding lunch, an Eid gathering, or the night the extended family arrives unannounced.

3 hours Serves8

Mutabbal

The richer Levantine cousin of baba ganoush: aubergines charred until the skins blacken and the flesh inside has gone completely soft and smoky, then folded into tahini, yogurt, lemon and garlic for a creamier, slightly tart finish. The yogurt is the dish's defining move; where baba ganoush stays olive-oil rich, mutabbal carries a quiet dairy tang across the back. The aubergines have to char over a real flame (gas hob, grill or charcoal); the smoky depth that comes from open fire is exactly what an oven roast cannot give you. After charring you cool them, peel off the skins, drain the bitter water, and chop or mash the flesh by hand. Never blend, because pureeing turns the dip into babyfood and loses the texture that makes it. A pool of olive oil on top, a scatter of pomegranate seeds for colour and a sweet-sharp bite, warm flatbread torn alongside to scoop.

30 minutes Serves4-6

Saleeg

A Hijazi speciality that sits closer to a savoury rice porridge than to any other rice dish on the peninsula. You poach a whole chicken in a stock built around onion, cardamom, dried lime, mastic and bay for forty-five minutes, then strain the stock and reduce it. Short-grain rice cooks slowly in equal parts of that reduced stock and warm whole milk, stirred often over thirty-five minutes until it reaches a creamy, almost-risotto consistency. The dairy is what makes this dish what it is. The chicken comes out, gets brushed with butter and finished briefly under the grill so its skin turns gold, then sits on top of the rice for serving. Brown butter drizzled over, a heavy crack of black pepper, eaten with bread torn at the table. Comfort food of Mecca and Medina, traditionally served at Hijazi weddings and family gatherings.

1 hour 45 minutes Serves4