Kuwaiti cuisine

Machboos

Kuwaiti cuisine is an infusion of Arabian, Persian, Indian, and Mediterranean cuisines. A prominent dish in Kuwaiti cuisine is machboos, a rice-based specialty usually prepared with basmati rice seasoned with spices, and chicken or mutton (pork is highly restricted due to religious reasons).

Seafood is a very significant part of the Kuwaiti diet, especially fish.[1] Local favorites are hamour (grouper), which is typically served grilled, fried, or with biryani rice because of its texture and taste, Zbaidi, safi (rabbitfish), and sobaity (bream).

Kuwait's traditional flatbread is called Iranian khubz. It is a large flatbread baked in a special oven and they often top it with sesame seeds. Numerous local bakeries dot the country, the bakers are mainly Iranians (hence the name of the bread Iranian khubuz). Bread is often served with mahyawa fish sauce.

There are many other available cuisines due to the international workforce in Kuwait.

Dishes

Biryani with chicken
  • Biryani, (Arabic: برياني‎) – a very common dish, which consists of heavily seasoned rice cooked with chicken or lamb. Originally from the Indian sub-continent.[2]
  • Firga'a - white rice cooked with tomatoes and potatoes and eggplant in the bottom of the pan.
  • Gabout(Arabic: قبوط‎), – stuffed flour dumplings in a thick meat stew.
  • Harees, (Arabic: هريس‎) – wheat cooked with meat then mashed, usually topped with cinnamon sugar.
  • Jireesh (Yireesh) (Arabic: يريش‎), – a mash of cooked spelt with chicken or lamb, tomatoes, and some spices.
  • Machboos, (Arabic: مجبوس‎) – a dish made with mutton, chicken, or fish accompanied over fragrant rice that has been cooked in chicken/mutton well spiced broth.[2]
  • Mahyawa (Arabic: مهياوة‎) – a tangy fish sauce.
  • Maglooba (Arabic: مقلوبة‎) - Rice cooked with meat and potatoes and eggplant.
  • Margoog, (Arabic: مرقوق‎) – vegetable stew, usually containing squash and eggplant, cooked with thin pieces of rolled out dough.
  • Mumawwash, (Arabic: مموش‎) – rice cooked with green lentils and can be topped with dry shrimp.
  • Muaddas, Rice cooked with red lentils and can be topped with dry shrimp.
  • Mutabbaq samak, (Arabic: مطبق سمك‎) – fish served over rice. Rice is cooked in well-spiced fish stock.
  • Quzi, (Arabic: قوزي‎) – Kuwaiti dish consisting of a roasted lamb stuffed with rice, meat, eggs, and other ingredients.

Desserts

  • Asida (Arabic: عصيدة‎) – a dish made up of a cooked wheat flour lump of dough, sometimes with added butter or honey.
  • Balaleet, (Arabic: بلاليط‎) – sweet saffron noodles served with a savory omelet on top.
  • Bayth elgitta, (Arabic: بيض القطا‎) – a fried cookie filled with a mixture of ground nuts and tossed in powdered sugar. It was named after the egg of the crowned sandgrouse (common to the area) due to its similar shape.
  • darabeel ,(Arabic: درابيل‎) Made from Millet, eggs, milk and sugar, it made into very light Chips, wrapped and folded on each other tightly, and placed between the chips a soft sugar, cardamom and ground cinnamon.
  • Lugaimat, (Arabic: لقيمات‎) – fried yeast dumplings soaked in syrup (sugar, lemon).
  • Gers ogaily, (Arabic: قرص عقيلي‎) – a traditional cake made with eggs, flour, sugar, cardamom, and saffron. Traditionally served with tea.
  • Zalabia (Arabic: زلابية‎) – fried dough soaked in syrup (sugar, lemon, and saffron, it has a distinctive swirly shape.
  • Ghoriba – brittle cookies made from flour, butter, powdered sugar and cardamom. It's usually served with Arabic coffee.
  • Khabeesa – sweet dish made of flour and oil.
  • Sab Alqafsha (Kuwaiti Arabic: صب القفشة) - Similar to Lugaimat but with additional saffron and cardamom syrup.

Beverages

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Consumption of fish and shellfish and the regional markets". Food and Agriculture Organization. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  2. 1 2 Riolo, 2007, p.23 - 24
  3. ↑ DiPiazza (2006) p.57

Bibliography

  • Al-Hamad, Sarah, 2015, Cardamom and Lime: Tastes of the Arabian Gulf , Fox Chapel Publishing, ISBN 978-1-5048-0024-2
  • DiPiazza, Francesca Davis, 2006 Kuwait in Pictures, Twenty-First Century Books, p. 56- 57, ISBN 0-8225-6589-7
  • Riolo, Amy, 2007, Arabian Delights: Recipes & Princely Entertaining Ideas from the Arabian Peninsula, Capital Books, p. 23- 24, ISBN 1-933102-55-1

Further reading

  • O'Shea, Maria, 1999, Kuwait, Marshall Cavendish p. 114- 121, ISBN 0-7614-0871-1
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