The most famous Emirati dish is machboos, spiced rice cooked with meat, chicken or fish and dried lime, and it is usually called the national dish. Around it sits a cuisine shaped by the desert, the sea and centuries of trade with India, Persia and East Africa: slow-cooked wheat and meat, thin breads cooked on a hot plate, date syrup in almost every sweet, and cardamom coffee poured for every guest.
Emirati main dishes, with names
- Machboos: rice cooked in the same pot as the meat, chicken or fish, with loomi (dried black lime), baharat spice, onion and tomato. The national dish, and the centre of family lunches.
- Harees: wheat and meat cooked slowly for hours, then beaten until smooth and finished with ghee. The dish of Ramadan, Eid and weddings.
- Thareed: thin regag bread layered in a bowl and soaked with a meat and vegetable stew. Another Ramadan favourite, sometimes called the Emirati lasagne.
- Madrouba: rice or flour cooked down with salted fish or chicken until thick and creamy, a coastal comfort dish.
- Saloona: the everyday stew of meat or fish with vegetables and spice, eaten with rice.
Emirati breads and breakfast
- Regag: a paper-thin bread cooked on a hot plate, often filled with egg and cheese. Folded around crushed crisps it becomes regag with Chips Oman, a modern street favourite.
- Khameer: a soft, slightly sweet leavened bread, eaten at breakfast with cheese or date syrup.
- Chebab: Emirati pancakes scented with cardamom and saffron, served with date syrup and cream cheese.
- Balaleet: sweet vermicelli with saffron, cardamom and rosewater, topped with a thin omelette. Sweet and savoury in one bowl.
Emirati sweets
- Luqaimat: small fried dough balls soaked in date syrup and scattered with sesame. The UAE's signature sweet, and a fixture of Ramadan evenings.
- Dates: the UAE grows dozens of varieties, and the Liwa Date Festival in Abu Dhabi celebrates the harvest each summer.
What to drink
- Gahwa: Arabic coffee, lightly roasted and spiced with cardamom and sometimes saffron, poured in small cups and served with dates. Offering it is the first act of hospitality.
- Karak chai: strong tea boiled with spices and evaporated milk, sold for a few dirhams at cafeterias across the country.
- Laban: a salted yoghurt drink, eaten with rice dishes and in the heat.
When each dish is eaten
Ramadan brings out harees, thareed and luqaimat at iftar. Eid and weddings mean machboos and harees in large quantities. Breakfast is regag, khameer, chebab or balaleet, and gahwa with dates is offered at any time a guest arrives. Our UAE iftar guide covers what Ramadan dining looks like across the country.
The everyday food of the UAE
Nearly nine in ten UAE residents were born elsewhere, and their kitchens are part of UAE food too. Shawarma came from the Levant and is now the country's favourite street food. Paratha and egg is the standard cafeteria breakfast. Biryani is one of the most-ordered dishes in the country, and Pakistani karahi and nihari are as good in Sharjah as in Lahore. Our desi food guide maps where each community's food is best.
Where to try Emirati food
Heritage districts such as Al Fahidi and Al Seef in Dubai and the Heart of Sharjah have Emirati restaurants and cafes; Ramadan tents and hotel iftars are the easiest way to try harees and thareed. For Sharjah specifically, see what Sharjah is famous for. For the Pakistani side of UAE food, our kitchen in Abu Shagara, Sharjah serves nihari, karahi and biryani daily until midnight; the menu has every price.
