The 20 most famous dishes of United Arab Emirates
Emirati cooking is born of the sea, the desert and trade routes to India and Persia, famous for machboos, harees and thareed and for sweets scented with saffron and cardamom.
1Chicken Machboos
The UAE's national dish: basmati rice cooked with chicken, bezar spices, dried lime, tomato and onion, topped…
2Emirati Harees
Wheat and meat cooked for hours and beaten into a silky porridge, topped with ghee — for Ramadan and weddings.
3Thareed
Regag bread soaked in a lamb and vegetable stew — said to be the Prophet's favourite food, and a fixture of…
4Balaleet
Sweet vermicelli with saffron, cardamom and rose water, topped with a thin omelette — an Emirati…
5Luqaimat
Golden fried dough balls drizzled with date syrup — the companion of Arabic coffee in the UAE.
6Khameer Bread
Soft bread with dates, cardamom, saffron and nigella, eaten with cheese or honey for breakfast.
7Chebab
Thick Emirati pancakes with saffron and cardamom, served with cream cheese and date syrup.
8Madrouba
Rice and chicken cooked with laban and spices until porridge-like — a comforting Ramadan favourite.
9Saloona
A tomato-and-bezar stew of vegetables with meat or fish — the everyday dish of Emirati homes.
10Jasheed
Poached and flaked baby shark meat fried with onion, turmeric and spices, eaten with rice.
11Emirati Grilled Fish
Hammour or safi fish rubbed with bezar, garlic and lemon and grilled over charcoal.
12Aseedat Bobar
A sweet pudding of pumpkin (bobar), flour, sugar and ghee with cardamom and saffron.
13Khanfaroosh
Fried cakes with saffron, cardamom and rose water — an Emirati hospitality sweet.
14Regag Bread
Paper-thin, crisp bread cooked on a hot griddle, eaten with eggs or cheese or in thareed.
15Shrimp Machboos
Machboos rice with shrimp, bezar and tomato — a dish of the Emirati coast.
16Mahyawa
A spiced fermented fish sauce spread on regag with eggs or cheese — a distinctive Emirati flavour.
17Bathitha
A desert sweet of dates, toasted flour, ghee and cardamom that keeps for a long time without refrigeration.
18Gers Ogaily
A traditional Emirati sponge cake with saffron, cardamom and sesame, served with Arabic coffee.
19Karak Chai
Tea boiled strong with evaporated milk, cardamom and saffron — the UAE's most popular drink.
20Emirati Margooga
A bezar-spiced meat and vegetable stew in which dough sheets are cooked — the Emirati take on margoog.