Patience and generosity
Arabic meat dishes are made to be shared, often slowly cooked and served in large quantities for family and guests.
- Harees: wheat and meat cooked for hours until creamy, the Gulf’s Ramadan classic and the ancestor of haleem.
- Mansaf: Jordan’s national dish, lamb in a tangy yogurt sauce served on rice with toasted nuts.
- Dawood basha: spiced meatballs simmered with small onions in tomato and pomegranate molasses.
Spices
Arabic meat dishes rely on warm, gentle spices: allspice, cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper and the blend baharat. There’s rarely much chilli; heat is added at the table with a tomato-chilli salsa.
For South Asian cooks
The methods will feel familiar: haleem-style slow cooking for harees, kadhi-style care with yogurt for mansaf, and kofta curry for dawood basha. For grilled meats, see shawarma and grills.