Haneeth

Haneeth is the signature dish of the Asir region in the Saudi southwest mountains. Lamb, camel or goat is slow-roasted in a sealed underground clay oven (the mifa), flavoured with the smoke of local markh wood, and served with rice or local bread. It is a celebration and feast centerpiece, eaten at weddings and gatherings across Asir and Jazan. The underground clay-oven method and the markh-wood smoke are the Asiri signatures that distinguish it from the Najdi or Bedouin pit cooking.

Deeply smoky, meltingly tender meat with a dark, fragrant crust, the markh-wood smoke running through every fibre, the rice soaking up the drippings. Eaten from a shared platter, it is smoky, rich and the festive face of the Asir highlands.

The mifa, a sealed underground clay oven, is the defining tool. The meat (lamb, camel or goat) is salted and lowered into the hot oven on a rack above the markh wood, the oven is sealed, and the meat slow-roasts in the trapped heat and smoke for hours until it falls apart. The markh wood gives a distinctive resinous smoke. The rice is cooked separately and the meat served on top, the drippings poured over.