Arikah

Asir·Easy·25 min

A soft wheat-flour bread that is baked then torn open and drenched in local ghee and honey or dates. The iconic Abha and Asir breakfast and hospitality dish, distinct from the savoury aseeda.

Arikah is the iconic breakfast and hospitality dish of Abha and the Asir highlands. A soft wheat-flour bread is baked, then torn open and drenched in generous local ghee (samin baladi) and honey or mashed dates. It is distinct from the savoury aseeda (which is a porridge served with meat broth) in being a sweet, ghee-and-honey-soaked bread. The dish is the first thing offered to a guest in an Asiri home, a marker of highland generosity.

Warm, soft, ghee-soaked bread pooled with golden honey, the bread having drunk up the fat, sweet and rich in every bite. Eaten by hand at breakfast, it is sweet, buttery and the generous welcome of an Asiri home.

A simple wheat-flour and salt dough is baked into a flat round bread, then while still hot, torn open to expose the soft interior, and drenched in melted local ghee and honey (or mashed dates). The tearing is essential; it exposes the soft crumb to the ghee and honey so they soak in. The bread is eaten immediately while hot, before the ghee sets. The generous amount of ghee is the Asiri hospitality signature.

Variations

A date version uses mashed dates instead of honey. Some add black cumin seeds to the dough.

On the Palate

Where Arikah sits in the Saudi flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 6

How it's made

6 steps · 25 min

1
8 min
Mix 400g wheat flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp yeast and 250ml warm water to a soft dough; rest 1 hour.
2
5 min
Divide into 2 balls; flatten each into a 2cm-thick round.
3
8 min
Bake at 220C for 15 minutes until cooked and lightly golden.
4
4 min
While still hot, tear each bread open down the middle to expose the soft crumb.
Watch out
Tear the bread open while it's still hot to expose the soft crumb — the torn interior drinks up the ghee and honey; leave it whole and they just slide off the crust.
5
4 min
Pour 80g melted ghee generously over the torn surfaces.
Watch out
Pour the ghee over generously while everything's hot, before it sets — a stingy hand here misses the whole Asiri hospitality point.
6
3 min
Pour 4 tbsp honey over; serve immediately, eaten by hand.

Archive tool suggestions — not reviewed

These legacy suggestions have not been evidence-reviewed and are not presented as required tools.

Baking Sheet

Flat rectangular metal pan (sheet pan, half-sheet, quarter-sheet), 33×23 cm to 45×33 cm, with a low rim. The flat surface gives even heat for cookies, biscuits, roasted vegetables, sheet-pan dinners. Heavy aluminum sheets conduct heat fastest; non-stick coatings make cleanup easier but can warp over 200°C; rimmed half-sheet is the modern American restaurant standard.

Techniques

Baking