Hejaz
Saleeg: milky, creamy rice.
Saleeg Hejazi
Saleeg — short-grain rice cooked creamy in a broth of milk and clarified butter — is the signature of the Hejazi table.
View page →Hejaz is the narrow Red Sea strip holding Mecca, Medina and Jeddah — the terminus of a thousand years of Islamic pilgrimage. Pilgrims arriving from Egypt, Yemen, India and Southeast Asia brought their food with them, and the Hejazi table took on a cosmopolitan edge the interior lacks. Yemeni mandi — spiced meat and rice sealed in a pit and slow-roasted in embers — is now feast food here; Indian spices arrived by trade and seeped into stews and rice. Hejaz's own signature is saleeg: short-grain rice cooked creamy in a broth of milk, clarified butter and chicken stock, served with a whole poached bird. Breaking-the-fast snacks — dates, sambousek, fattah, balilah — fill the streets during Ramadan and the hajj season. It is the most cosmopolitan, most 'mixed' kitchen in the Kingdom.
The Palate
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Short-grain rice cooked down in milk, clarified butter and chicken broth until creamy, served with a whole bird.
Why start here · The Hejazi signature — milky rice you will not find inland.
Yemeni-derived pit rice with spiced lamb, a Hejazi adoption from the pilgrimage trade.
Why start here · Shows how pilgrimage reshaped the Hejazi table.
Crispy half-moon pastries stuffed with meat or cheese, the breaking-fast staple.
Why start here · The Ramadan street in one bite.
The Pantry
See all 43 ingredients›
Proteins
Fruits
Sauces & Condiments
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
See 4 more techniques›
Kindred Kitchens
Cuisines built on the same signature ingredients
Other regions
Siblings within Saudi — each its own tradition.