Harees Kuwaiti

Easy·25 min active + 5 hours 35 min resting

Kuwait's Ramadan classic — cracked wheat slow-cooked with lamb for 5-6 hours into a creamy porridge. The Kuwaiti version is topped with the signature zalata (deeply-fried golden onions) and a drizzle of cinnamon-ghee.

Harees is the smooth wheat-and-meat porridge of the Gulf, the grain and meat pounded together to a creamy mass over long hours. The Kuwaiti version is distinguished by its zalata topping — a treat especially of Ramadan.

Harees Kuwaiti — smooth creamy porridge with deeply-dark zalata onions on top adding intense caramelized flavor and crunch. The Kuwaiti distinction.

Zalata onions topping is the Kuwaiti signature; other techniques same as Gulf harees.

Variations

Harees with chicken. Modern Kuwait City versions.

On the Palate

Where Harees Kuwaiti sits in the Kuwaiti flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 6

500 g cracked wheatBulgur

1.5 kg bone-inLamb

1 stick + 2 tsp groundCinnamon

How it's made

8 steps · 25 min active + 5 hours 35 min waiting

1
480 min
Soak 500 g coarse cracked wheat overnight; drain.
2
6 min
Combine wheat + 1.5 kg lamb + 4 L water + 2 tsp salt + 1 cinnamon stick + 4 cardamom pods + 1 tsp turmeric.
3
360 min
Bring to boil; skim. Cook 5-6 hours stirring every 30 min.
Watch out
Skim off the grey foam as it rises in the first boil — leave it and the harees turns cloudy and muddy-tasting.
4
5 min
Remove bones; pound smooth.
Watch out
Pound after the long cook until wheat and lamb blur into one smooth, stretchy porridge — you shouldn't be able to tell them apart.
5
4 min
Stir in 1 tsp cinnamon + 4 tbsp ghee + 1 tsp salt.
6
14 min
Make zalata: deeply fry 3 sliced onions in ghee 12 min until very dark golden.
Watch out
Fry the onions patiently to a deep dark gold — that near-scorched sweetness is the Kuwaiti signature; pale onions taste flat on top.
7
2 min
Heat 2 tbsp ghee + 1 tsp cinnamon in small pan.
8
4 min
Serve harees topped with zalata onions, cinnamon-ghee, chopped parsley.