Harees is a traditional Arab dish made from dried wheat grains and meat, cooked together until soft enough to whip into a pudding-like texture. It is a lengthy process and often reserved for special occasions, and can be made with beef, mutton, veal, or chicken. The dish is seasoned with various spices and served with a topping of clarified butter.
Hare is a traditional dish of Arab cuisine, served throughout the Middle East. It is a mixture of dried wheat grains and meat, cooked together until soft enough to whip into a pudding-like texture. Preparing harees is a lengthy process and the dish is usually reserved for special occasions. It is particularly associated with celebrations such as Eid, Ramadan and weddings.
In this dish, whole dry grains of durum red wheat are used. It is sometimes called pearl grain. Beef is a common choice for rams, but mutton or veal can take the place of beef. Hares can also be made from chicken. Lean cuts of meat are recommended for this dish.
The preparation can take a long time but the normal process is not complicated. The cleaned and washed wheat is brought to the boil in salted water and left to cook briefly. Then the meat or chicken is added to the pot and both are cooked for at least two to three hours or until they begin to lose their shape.
When the cooked mixture is very soft, it is removed from the heat and blended together. This was traditionally done with a specialized wooden beater called a medhrab. Many recipes simply call for the use of a large spoon. You can also use an immersion blender or food processor.
Traditionally harees were cooked on a stove for a long time, then placed in a brick oven or cooking pit for several hours in the same pot. Today a pressure cooker is sometimes used to get the same results as the other methods in a fraction of the time. Regardless of the cooking method, it’s important to make sure there is enough water in the pot to keep the grain and meat from drying out or burning.
There are many variations in the seasoning for rams. Cardamom pods are often used, as are onion, black pepper and garlic. Some recipes call for the addition of rice and small legumes, called legumes. Cumin, turmeric and cinnamon are also frequent additions. Some recipes call for adding sugar to the dough during baking.
The hares are often served in a large platter with a topping of samen, a clarified butter product that is widely used in Middle Eastern cooking. You can also use ghee or just melted butter. In some regions, it is customary to add zucchini to sugar or a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.
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