Omani Recipes

Omani food reflects a country that faces the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean and has traded with India, Persia and East Africa for centuries. Meals center on rice, lamb, goat, chicken and fresh fish, flavored with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, dried limes and mixed spice blends. Festive cooking is slow and communal: shuwa, marinated meat cooked for hours in a sealed pit during Eid, and rice dishes such as qabooli and majboos piled on big shared platters. Paper-thin regag bread, mandazi fried bread and crisp bajiya fritters show how widely the kitchen has borrowed. Dates are everywhere, and guests are welcomed with cardamom-scented kahwa coffee, dates and halwa, the glossy sweet made with rose water and saffron. Ramadan evenings begin with dates and water, followed by a thick shourba soup of grain, meat and vegetables.

Staple ingredients

• rice
• lamb, goat and chicken
• fish
• dates
• cardamom, cinnamon and cloves
• dried limes (loomi)
• rose water and saffron
• thin flatbread

• Soups 1
• Main Dishes 3
• Breads 1
• Desserts 1
• Snacks 2

Soups

• Shourba (Omani Barley and Chicken Ramadan Soup)OM1 h 50 minEasy

Main Dishes

• Mishkak (Omani Spiced Meat Skewers with Tamarind Sauce)OM42 minEasy
• Qabooli (Omani Chicken Rice with Raisins and Nuts)OM1 h 50 minMedium
• Shuwa (Omani Slow-Roasted Spiced Lamb)OM4 h 25 minEasy

Breads

• Regag (Omani Paper-Thin Flatbread)OM45 minMedium

Desserts

• Omani Halwa (Rosewater, Saffron and Cardamom Sweet)OM1 h 15 minChallenging

Snacks

• Bajiya (Omani Spiced Fritters with Tamarind Chutney)OM45 minEasy
• Mandazi (Omani Cardamom Fried Bread)OM45 minEasy